Strong On the Surface
by ebony hope
Summary: AU:Bella is living with Charlie in Forks. But he's abusing her and his fiancee, Esme. The Cullens move to town, and theres a chance the secret might be revealed.Canon. DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT STEPHENIE MEYER :CHANGED PENNAME FORMERLY somethin' to believe in
1. Chapter 1

_Every time he hits her, I cower farther and farther into the corner. Sympathetic for her, but glad that it isn't me._

Moving from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington was the biggest mistake of my life.

It didn't seem that bad when my mother presented the idea over dinner one night. We sat around the small, round table; all three of us. Renee, Phil and I. She told me that Phil was going off to Jacksonville to play minor league baseball, and she just couldn't leave him. Renee, being the erratic harebrain that she was, insisted that I do not tag along, and move up to Washington state to live with my father for a while.

I figured it wouldn't be bad. Some father-daughter bonding.

How wrong I was.

I dragged my feet down the stairs, my brown messenger bag slung across my shoulder. I tugged on the too-tight gray sweatshirt I wore, and adjusted it as I reached the bottom of the stairs. The smell of fresh bacon and scrambled eggs floated around me. Of course it wasn't for me, it was for Charlie. I held my nose as the aroma nauseated my weak stomach. I walked slowly into the kitchen and smiled warily at Esme who sat at the kitchen table, waiting for Charlie to wake up.

Esme was my soon to be step-mom. She and Charlie had begun dating loosely four months ago, and it had gone downhill from there. About a month into their relationship, he proposed to her, and threatened to kill her if she didn't accept. For the remaining time to the present, he beats and hits both Esme and I,

I walked over to where Esme was sitting and kissed her cheek lightly. Even though I'd only known her for a few months, I was growing really close to her. Not in the maternal sort of way, but more like the friendly aunt-niece sort of way.

"Morning, Bella-Boo," she said, her smile wide, but her eyes sad.

"Morning Esme," I replied. I opened the fridge and hastily took out an apple, knowing that if Charlie caught me with food, I'd be done for.

"Bye Ezz," I called, as I walked quickly out the front door. I felt guilty leaving her alone there with _him _but I couldn't risk both of us getting killed—that's what she'd always told me.

I arrived at school earlier than usual, due to the fact that I avoided the usual…'run-ins,' is you will. I parked my rusty, red truck in my usual parking spot, and walked up to the front office like everyday to greet the secretary, Ms. Madigan, the one who always wears something purple. I don't know why, but I just feel this strong bond and sense of trust in her.

"Morning, Ms. Madigan," I chirped. She looked up from the mass of papers on her desk and smiled up at me, her brown eyes shining through the glare of her eyeglasses.

"Good Morning, dear. How are you, today?" she asked, smiling. I shrugged.

"Same old, same old," wow. That's the understatement of the century.

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied. The cool wind of the door whipped through my hair, startling me. I whirled around, surprised to see four teenagers standing in the doorway.

But it wasn't the wind that initially scared me. It was the look of their faces. One of the girls was tall, with honey blond hair waving loosely to her back. Another boy was tall, very muscular, with short, curly hair. The second boy was a bit shorter than the first boy, but still tall, with honey golden hair that waved to about the middle of his ears. He was muscular, but not as much as the first boy. The third boy was tall, but not nearly as muscular as either of the boys, with messy bronze hair. They were all abnormally beautiful. Like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine or something.

They were all standing awkwardly near the doorway, yet so confident and nonchalant; as if they knew they were interrupting something, but didn't care.

I stepped aside as they walked passed me toward the desk where Ms. Madigan sat. I inhaled as they passed. They smelled almost sickeningly sweet, like sweet peas. But the thing that scared me the most was that I couldn't take my eyes off of the bronze haired boy. His face was so hard, yet so soft. So confident, yet so feeble. So mysterious, yet so readable.

"We're the Cullens," the tall, muscular one spoke, in a smooth voice. He spoke with much confidence—more than I could ever muster up. "I'm Emmett, that's Jasper, Edward, and Rosalie." I raised an eyebrow. Almost as if reading my thoughts, the bronze haired boy turned his head to look at me, his eyes boring into my head. I quickly sat down in a waiting chair, and flipped open a magazine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw the bronze haired boy, now identified as Edward Cullen, smirk.

Ms. Madigan handed them each a small stack of papers, which each accepted gratefully. They turned all at once, almost as if it had been rehearsed, and glided swiftly out of the door. With a last glance from Edward Cullen, I was left sitting back in my chair, breathless.

"Bella, honey? Are you okay?" Ms. Madigan asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Wow, I mean, yeah, I'm fine. They're new?" I asked, standing up clumsily and walking back over to the desk.

"Yes. They're Dr. Cullen's foster kids, I think. At least that's what the ladies at the salon say," Ms. Madigan said, glancing up at the clock. "Bella, you oughta get to class." I glanced up at the clock and sighed. I gathered my things and headed off to first hour.

"Did you see them?" Alice, my best friend asked me at lunch that day. Mary-Alice Brandon had been my best friend since kindergarten when we first shared the snowman stencil. She was short and thin, with jet black hair that was in a pixie-like cut. She was bubbly and peppy, which made up for my dreariness, and was the only one that knew my secret. About Charlie.

"Who?" I asked, even though I already had a general idea of what she was talking about.

"_Them. _The new kids. I think their names are Cullen or something," she gushed, sneaking a glance over her shoulder at their table in the corner. They all sat silently, staring at their untouched food. Lunch was almost over. They'd better hurry up if they wanted to finish.

"Yeah, what about them?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew she was going to start going on about their looks. Because they were hauntingly beautiful. The kind of people that you can't help but compare yourself to.

"Just look at them! They're beautiful! Especially the blond boy!" she said excitedly. I nodded.

"Jasper Cullen?" I asked, to clarify.

"You know him?" she asked me, shocked.

"Oh, no. He was just in my trig class. He wasn't really that talkative. Actually, he looked like he was in pain the whole time," I recalled. "Mr. Abbel made him introduce himself to the class," I told her. She nodded and looked over at them again.

"Did he say where he was from?" she asked, keeping her eyes on their table.

"I think he said they just moved down from somewhere in Alaska."

"Are they all related? Because it doesn't really look like it," she asked, not even acknowledging my previous answer.

"No, they're foster kids."

"They're really pale. And they're eyes are a weird color," she observed. This caught my attention. I looked around my friend and over to the table of newcomers. It was true. They were all extremely pale, sickly almost, and their eyes were all a strange ocher, a gold. A shade I'd never seen before.

"Maybe contacts like that were in Alaska or something," I suggested, trying to dismiss the wild thoughts that I knew were going on in my best friend's head. Alice had always had a wild imagination. Sometimes her ideas had been so farfetched that I'd have to go through her locker to make sure there weren't any drugs. And just for the record, there never were.

"Maybe," she agreed, still analyzing the group. The bell rang shrilly, and we both hurried off to our next class, still curious about the background of our new classmates.

I walked into building four, shaking the rain from my hair. I took it off my shoulder and hung it on the hook like usual. I pulled the sleeves of my white long sleeved t-shirt down, better hiding the many bruises I'd acquired. I walked to the back of the room and took a seat at my counter. I didn't have a partner this term, since we'd picked. Alice wasn't in this class, and she was the only friend I really had. So I'd been the odd one out. It didn't really bother me, I actually enjoyed the solitude.

My gaze snapped up as I heard a familiar velvet voice echo from across the room. It was soft, but I could still hear it, for my ears had been alert for the sound all day.

"Class," Mr. Banner said loudly. No one listened. "Class," he said again, a little louder. Still, no one settled. I knew what was coming. "CLASS!" he yelled loudly. Everyone hushed.

"We have a new student. This is Edward Cullen," snickers at the name, and sighs at his beauty, "tell everyone where you moved from, please."

"Alaska," he said, in the same velvet voice I heard before.

"Interesting. Well, you can take a seat in the back next to Ms. Swan." Oh no. Not me. He couldn't be coming over to sit next to _me_. But he was. And he did.

"Hello," he said, after Mr. Banner started talking.

"Um, hi." I replied timidly.

"I'm Edward," he said, still looking at me. He seemed to be analyzing my face.

"Bella," I replied, the corner of my mouth turning up slightly. Wow. This was getting awkward.

"Bella Swan. Is Chief Swan your father?" he asked. Oh gosh, why did we have to talk about Charlie? I nodded.

"Yeah, um, how do you know him?" I asked. I tried not to let the pain of thinking about my father show in my face.

"My father Carlisle works with him a lot," he said, opening his Biology book.

"Really? What's your father do?" I asked, changing the subject from me to him.

"He's a doctor. A real good one, in fact," he explained. I thought for moment.

"He must be new then. Because I've been to the hospital so many times, I've got pretty close bonds with all of the doctors, and I don't remember ever meeting any Dr. Cullen."

"Oh, no. We just moved down to Forks. From Alaska. Denali to be exact," he said. He looked back down at his book, and just like that, stopped talking to me. First he's telling me about his family, and we seem to be getting along, but then he just shuts up and stops talking to me.

Class dragged on as usual, but the strange boy beside me kept me from falling asleep. He had girls fawning all over him, yet he didn't seem interested in any of them.

The bell rang shrilly, and at once Edward was out of his seat, gathering his things. I caught sight of him about to leave, but was stopped by Jessica Stanley. Jessica was pretty to some standard, nothing compared to Rosalie Cullen, and really popular. She used to be my friend, but then she found out I was friends with Alice, and ditched me.

"You're Edward, right?" she asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. I saw Edward bite back a chuckle.

"Yeah," he said, sounding really uninterested.

"I'm Jessica Stanley. But you can call me Jess. Or Ca. Or Stanley, or Stan, or whatever you want," she said the last part, trying to sound seductive. Edward raised his eyebrows.

"Excuse me, Jessica Stanley, but I should be going. I have to get to next hour," Edward said, pushing past her. I giggled at him using her full name.

"Wait!" Jessica said, grabbing onto his hand. Edward turned around, annoyed.

Jessica took out a pen and scribbled something on his hand. She winked at him, turning slightly.

"Call me," she purred, walking in a way that wiggled her hips even more than she usually did. Edward looked at his hand, dumbfounded. Then, he looked up at me.

"Is she usually like that?"

"She used to be, but now she's dating Mike Newton. The guy with the pinch face who was sitting behind us. You must be pretty damn appealing if she's gonna distance herself from her 'baby cakes' like that." I used air quotes. I turned quickly to walk out, when he said something in his velvet voice that caught me off guard.

"Do you think I'm appealing?"

I turned slowly, my cheeks turning a scarlet color. "Well, I, um, I…" I stuttered. I replayed the conversation in my mind, and came to the conclusion that my statement had come out completely wrong.

"I didn't really mean it…uh…I mean…I did but…you're appealing but…I don't think you are…I mean…what I meant was…" I struggled to form a sentence. Luckily, my old friend Angela Weber walked up to me, requesting to copy my history notes. I obliged, grateful that she had interrupted the awkward conversation.

**Well, there you have it. The first chapter of my first ever Twilight fanfic. WA HOO! So I'm kind of new at this, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys would review and tell me how I did? I'll give you a virtual cookie!**


	2. Chapter 2

**WOW! I didn't think this story would be so popular, and I got eleven reviews for the first chapter! Thanks so much! And I special thank you to Randomness96 for being my first reviewer ever! And to answer anyone's questions, yes, I do answer every review I get. So if you have question about the story or something, you'll get an answer.**

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_I came home on time, I made his dinner, I cleaned the kitchen. Maybe he won't hit me tonight._

I opened the door quietly, creeping inside. The cruiser wasn't here, so that must mean that Charlie wasn't home yet. But I didn't want to take any chances. I crept quietly into the kitchen, but stopped dead in my tracks.

Esme lay, sprawled out on the floor, laying on her stomach, dried blood coating her naked back. Her bra had turned a deep red color, due to all of the blood, and there was deep gashes along her back. I gasped, and knelt shakily next to her.

"E-Esme," I stuttered, touching her arm softly, careful not to hurt her. Her eyes opened a slit.

"Bella," she gasped for breath. I rubbed her arm up and down, which seemed to be the only normal looking part of her body.

"D-Did he do this?" I whispered shakily. At first I didn't think she heard me, because she didn't respond.

"B-Bella, get out," she stuttered shakily. I took her hand and mine, as a tear rolled down my cheek. She couldn't expect me to just leave her there, could she?

"Esme, no. I'm not leaving you here," I said, trying to sound firm. But I had a feeling that with the tears, it wasn't really working. She struggled to lift her head to the side to look me in the eye.

"Bella," she said firmly, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it softly, as more tears streamed down my face. I made sure that my cell phone was in my pocket before I raced out the door.

I ran. Not anywhere in particular, I just ran. It had begun raining in the last few minutes, and now, it was pouring. I didn't know where I was going, but soon, I found myself leaning against a telephone pole, with my head in my hands. How could this happen? Why Esme? She didn't know what she was getting herself into when she agreed to marry Charlie, but why didn't he do this to me?

"Bella?" I voice said, through the pouring rain. It sounded so familiar. Where had I heard that voice before? I looked up, and into the eyes of Jasper Cullen. He held out his hand. I reached out and took it timidly. It was so cold. Like he'd just stuck his hand in an ice bucket. He helped me up and wordlessly led me to a tan hummer that was parked on the side of the road. He opened the door for me and I slid in.

Then, he drove. I couldn't see where he was going through my tears, but I didn't care. And for some reason, it didn't bother me that I was riding in a car with an-almost-complete-stranger to somewhere that I didn't even know.

After about ten minutes, we arrived at his destination. It was a large, abstract looking house. The outside was white, and it was built an a large hill, with a garage jutting downward. He stopped the car, and looked at me.

"Do you want to come in?" he asked, looking at me sideways. I looked outside at the house. The garage was open, and there was a silver Volvo, a red BMW, and a yellow Porsche. All extremely expensive looking cars. I was about to reject the offer, but then I saw a wisp of golden hair run out to the Hummer, along with a very worried looking Rosalie Cullen. She opened the door and dragged me out. I struggled, but it seemed like nothing could puncture her hold.

"Let go of me!" said, as Rosalie effortlessly dragged me into the house. She pulled me into what looked like a living room, and layed me gently on a couch. At once, three more boyish faces crowded around me.

"So you're Bella Swan," the muscular one said, as I remembered his name to be Emmett. I slowly reached into my pocket, and my hands locked around the small can that I always carried around with me. I whipped it out and sprayed Emmett in the face with the pepper spray, and leapt off of the couch, sprinting for the door. But of course, me being the klutz that I was, tripped over the edge of the white shag rug and fell on my back, hitting myself with the newest bruise Charlie had given me just a few days ago. Jasper hoisted me up off the floor, and I thrashed once again. It didn't seem to do anything, so I stopped. He set me down on the couch.

"W-What do you want?" I asked, my voice quivering. Emmett chuckled and shook his head.

"You think we want to eat you?" Emmett asked, still laughing. I raised my eyebrows.

"Eat me?"

Edward Cullen nudged Emmett in the ribs. "Did I say eat? Well what I meant was hurt. I mean, we don't want to hurt you. Edward knew this was going to happen," Emmett said. The other three Cullens sighed.

"What was going to happen?" I asked, wondering where this was going.

"Bella," Edward said, taking my hand, and leading me into a room with a lot of windows and a piano. Who did he think he was? Touching me?

"Don't touch me!' I said, pulling my arm away from his hand.

"Do you want to know why you're here or not?" Edward said, his velvety voice totally calm. I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"Jasper saw you on the side of the road and brough you here," he said. I raised my eyebrows.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Your brother said something about you already knowing that it was going to happen. Mind telling me about that?"

He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I can't tell you that." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, come on. Just say it. You were stalking me. You snuck into my house and watched," I suggested, putting my hands on my hips, angry.

"It isn't that simple, Bella. It's much more complex than that," he said, his calm voice gaining a slight edge. I huffed and crossed my arms, and began pacing.

"Oh, so my father hitting Esme and I is simple?!" I screeched. I looked taken aback, but a look of confusion replaced his flinch.

"Who's Esme?" he asked. I turned away, trying not to think of what a horrible person I was for leaving Esme bloodied up on the floor of my house.

"No one," I said, wiping a stray tear from my cheek, trying to hide it from him. But apparently it didn't work, because he stood up and lead me to the white lounge chair that sat in the corner. He sat me down on it, leaving little space for himself. He sat on the edge while I tried to hold in the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Bella, is Esme someone important?" he asked in a calm voice. I lowered my head and didn't answer.

"Bella, if Esme's in danger, then you need to tell me," he repeated, trying to get my attention.

"Esme is Charlie's fiancée," I said in a quiet voice. He nodded, urging me to go on. "They got engaged about three months ago. H-He threatened her. If she didn't marry him…" I trailed off, "then he started hitting her, too."

"He was hitting you before this?" I ignored his question.

"I-I came home from s-school today, and sh-she was on the floor, and she had these wounds on her back, from a b-belt or something," I whispered. Edward's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room, mumbling so fast I couldn't understand him. But I didn't care. I was disgusted with myself for telling a complete stranger my deepest secret, and I had no idea the consequences.

**Okay, so I know it's short. Only four pages on Microsoft Word 2007. But I wanted to get out another chapter so you guys wouldn't go insane ******

**Ha.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heeeeeelllo my faithful readers. First off, I'd like to congratulate you for coming this far in my story! I know it may not be that interesting, but it's going to get better I promise!! :P Anyway, thank you for reviewing, everyone!!**

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**Try listening to 'River Flows In You' by Yiruma while you read this. It's a beautiful song. LISTEN TO IT!**

_Don't leave. Please. I need you._

I woke up early in the hospital. At least, I think I was in a hospital. Probably about 6:30 am. I stirred in the uncomfortable plastic covered floral couch that I currently occupied, and opened my eyes. At first, I flinched and closed my eyes again. It was so white. Blinding. The florescent lights on the ceiling, the newly painted walls, and the smell of Lysol, old people and urine. Yup, definitely a hospital. But what was I doing in a hospital?

_Esme._

My eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright. My eyes scanned the room until I saw her. She was lying on the white hospital bed on her back, an IV hooked up to her arm. Her eyes were closed, and her face was extremely pale. I touched her hand. It was ice cold.

No.

She couldn't be…dead, could she? I shook the thought from my brain and kissed her cold hand. I walked out of the room, in search of some kind doctor or nurse or something that could give me some answers. I stopped, when I saw a tall, pale man with blond hair talking to a woman with a pink bundle in her arms, which I guessed was a baby. I waited until the conversation was over until I walked over to him.

"Hi, um, I'm Bella Swan. Can you give me that status of Esme Platt, please?" I asked. The doctor smiled at me.

"Bella, I've been waiting to meet you. I'm Carlisle Cullen," he nodded at me. _Oh. _So this was the famous Carlisle. Then his face turned grim, as if remembering something sad.

"Ah, yes, Esme," he said. Oh, gosh. What was he going to tell me?

"How is she?" I asked anxiously, not able to take the anticipation.

"She's in a coma."

Those four words crushed my heart like nothing else. How could she be in a coma? She only had some gashes on her back! No, not Esme. Esme never did anything wrong! She didn't deserve to die so young! She was only twenty six!

"No," I choked out. I shook my head. I braced myself for the tears, but they didn't come. Why wasn't I crying? What was wrong with me?

"I'm so sorry. I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do for her. It'd be better if you said your goodbyes with the day," Dr. Cullen said, urgently. What was the rush? Wouldn't he mind if she was just allowed a little bit longer? A little bit more hope?

"So you're…you're taking her off…" I trailed off, the tears starting to fall. Now I cried. I couldn't before because there was still hope. Still that little piece of something to hold onto. And now it was dark. That glimmer of hope was gone, and I was left in the pitch black.

"Life support," Dr. Cullen said, before walking away. Well that was rude. I walked back into Esme's room and knelt beside her bed. I took her cold hand in mine and stroked it.

"Esme, I love you. Like a mother. I'm so sorry about my father. He really is a sweet guy. Before the drinking and everything. Remember me Esme. Please," I whispered. I kissed her hand and walked out of the room with my head down. I walked quickly to the elevator, pushed the down button and got in.

"Bella?" his voice was still as velvety as ever. I looked up. His eyes were different. They were black. Black as coal. He had dark circles under his eyes as well.

"Edward," I acknowledged him, pressing the lobby button even though it was already lit up.

"I am so deeply sorry about Esme," he said. I looked up at him, my eyebrows raised.

"'So deeply sorry'?" I mocked. "Thanks for caring," I said sarcastically. "And, how the hell did you know about that?" I asked him, anger showing through my tears. He reached out, but I swatted his hand away.

"I had to talk to Carlisle about something," he said, folding his arms across his chest. We reached the ground floor, and I was out the elevator doors as soon as they began to open. I flipped out my cell phone to call Alice and tell her to come and pick me up once I got out to the parking lot.

"She isn't going to answer." Edward said from behind me.

"And just why not?" I seethed, whirling around at him. I wasn't exactly sure why I was so mad at Edward, but I figured I was just hysterical from the day's earlier events.

"Because she's with Jasper. They went down to Olympia for the day," Edward said. I groaned. Alice never goes out. Never. She didn't even come to my birthday for the last two years. And she chooses today of all days to go out with a guy that she probably didn't even meet until today.

"I could give you a ride, if you want," he said. I shot him a look. I was about to reject the offer, when I realized that Charlie would probably want me home as soon as possible, and the beating would be less brutal if I got home earlier.

"I suppose," I said, following him to his silver Volvo. I slid in. It smelled very sweet, like sweet peas, and it was very warm. He drove just above the speed limit, down the high way towards my house. It had grown sickeningly warm in the car, so I reached for the dial. He did as well, and our hands touched. An electric shock ran up my arm. I pulled my hand away. I was shocked. Not at the electricity that ran through me when I touched him, but at his temperature. Even though it was extremely warm in the car, his hand was ice cold. Still.

"Why's your hand so cold?" I whispered. He looked straight ahead.

"Slow blood flow," he mumbled, so I could barely hear him. I didn't really buy it, but I didn't have the energy to keep pestering him.

Once we finally reached my house, I slowly got out of the Volvo, dreading what was waiting for me inside.

"Thanks for the ride," I said. He handed me a slip of paper.

"Bella, if you need anything, you can always call me," he said. I mumbled a sarcastic thanks to him and walked slowly up to my house as I heard him drive away.

Now it was just me, Charlie, and an empty house. Who knows what he might do.

**I was going to make it longer, but if I did, it would be super-duper angsty, and I didn't want to make you all depressed. HA. DON'T WORRY. Esme isn't out of the picture yet. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be up? Or any predictions?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A lot of you guessed correctly on what will happen to Esme; it's kind of obvious. So thank you for that! And a special thank you to elleminnowpee, because she knows how much I enjoy people asking me questions. **

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_Thank you for saving me. I owe you my life._

I opened the front door of the house slowly, flinching as I heard it creak. I closed it softly behind me and walked slowly into the kitchen. I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw him, his back to me, his face in the refrigerator. I was about to try and sneak up into my room without him noticing, but he whirled around, just as I was about to go up the first stair.

"Where the hell have you been, young lady?" he yelled at me, his face turning red. My eyes widened and the little color I had in my cheeks drained.

"I-I was a-at the hospital," I stammered as he stormed over to me.

"And where the hell is that little piece of shit I call my fiancée?" he asked, ignoring my previous response. Esme. I was hoping he wouldn't ask about her.

"Dad, um, I wanted to talk t-to you about h-her," I stammered, trying to sound confident. It obviously wasn't working, because he just laughed sourly at me.

"What?" he asked, a mocking smile upon his face.

"D-Dad, Esme went t-to the h-hospital last night, sh-she went into a c-coma, and th-they're t-taking her off l-life support," I in a low voice, tears streaming down my face now.

"You killed her?!" he yelled at me. Of course, he would put the blame on me.

"N-No, of course n-not," I whimpered as he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and threw me across the floor. I came to an abrupt stop when I slammed into the radiator. That was sure to leave a bruise on the back of my neck.

"How the hell do you expect me to pay that stupid hospital?!" he bellowed, stomping over to where I was. He kicked me in the stomach. Hard. I groaned and held my arms around my midsection, trying to shield it from the beating. He kicked and kicked and kicked. Harder and harder and harder.

But then, he stopped. He stopped and turned his back to me, as if having some kind of revelation. I thought that maybe he was done hitting me, but that just wasn't the case. He turned around slowly, his face beet red, on the verge of going purple.

"Get up," he ordered in a low, stern voice. I stood up shakily, each movement hurting my stomach. I flattened myself against the wall as he grabbed both of my shoulders with great force.

"You told, didn't you?" he said lowly. I shook my head fiercely, tears blurring my vision.

"Don't lie, you little slut," he growled angrily.

"I-I didn't, I-I swear," I stuttered. He shook his head at me and threw me to the ground. He began pounding at my ribs forcefully. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to go unconscious so that I wouldn't be able to feel the pain anymore. He pounded and pounded me in the ribs, and I was sure he was breaking every single one. Tears leaked out the corners of my eyes.

But finally, it was over. I heard him leave, probably to go to a bar or something. I opened my eyes and found myself still in the same place as before, up against the radiator. Except for now, I was in serious pain. Scorching pain flew all around my midsection, mostly from my ribs, but also from my stomach.

I used all of the strength I could to reach into my pocket and pull out my cell phone. But who would I call? I didn't have any family around here, and Alice was with Jasper in Olympia. Then I remembered the slip of paper Edward had given me. Took that out of my pocket as well and slowly dialed the phone number.

"Hello?" his velevety voice said. I broke down as soon as I heard him.

"E-Edward, it's B-Bella," I whispered. I was sure he couldn't understand me, for I was sobbing by now.

"Bella? Bella, what's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" he was obviously worried now. I hated to burden him with my presence, but I needed someone. If I wanted to live.

"E-Edward, can you c-come and get m-me? I'm h-hurt really b-bad," I stuttered. A sob choked itself passed my lips.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving right now. I'm bringing Carlisle," he said. Oh, good. He's bringing the doctor.

"Edward," I whispered. I was surprised when he responded, because I could barely hear myself.

"Yes, Bella?" he asked. I heard an engine start up, which must mean that he was already in his car.

"Thank you," I whispered. I hung up the phone and set it beside me, letting the tears escape.

Within minutes Edward and Carlisle had banged down the door, and were hurrying into the room. Edward knelt beside me and held my hand tightly, but not so tight that it hurt. I still felt that electric shock from this morning, except it wasn't as prominent, probably because I was slipping in and out of conscienceness.

"Bella, Bella, it'll be okay," Carlisle said. "Where does it hurt?"

I pointed to my midsection area. He ripped open my blood stained shirt and gasped. I saw Edward turn away and hold his nose. Maybe he was like me and couldn't stand the smell of blood. I'd think about that later, but now I had my lif to worry about.

"Its much worse than I expected," Carlisle mumbled. He said something to Edward so fast that I couldn't even understand. In a flash, Edward was gone, and I suddenly felt emptier than ever before.

Edward was back now, with my old light blue surfboard in his hand. I never used it, I was too much of a klutz to even try.

"Edward, it's really bad, you have to change her," Carlisle said. Change me? Change me into what? I knew there was something fishy about the Cullens.

"No, I'm not changing her," Edward said firmly. Again, changing me into what? What the hell are they talking about?

"Edward! You have to! It's the only way she'll survive!" Carlisle said sternly.

"No! I'm not doing that to her! I'm not ending her life when she has so much to live for!" Okay, what? End my life? I was on the verge of death anyway. And so much to live for? I had one friend, two if you counted Edward, no mom, my stepmom was dead, and my dad abused me. Doesn't seem like a lot to live for to me.

"Fine, let's bring her home." That's all I heard before everything went black.

_-Strong On the Surface-_

I was running. I didn't know where, but I was running. For no reason. But I couldn't stop. He'd get me. I heard the voice behind me.

"Get back here!" it was stern and scary. I recognized it. It was Charlie, my father. I ran faster. But I tripped, and fell to my death.

_-Strong On the Surface-_

I woke up, sweating. My breathing was at an erratic rate now, and my heart was pounding about a million miles per hour. I looked around the room. It wasn't white like the hospital, but a soothing light blue. I was laying propped up in a what looked like a king sized bed with white sheets and light blue comforter.

"Where the hell am I?" I wondered out loud. Then, the previous events came flooding back to me. I remembered. Charlie beating me. I flinched just thinking about it. And Edward and Carlisle saved me. That was the good part.

"Carlisle! She's awake!" I booming voice yelled from the doorway. I looked up to see Emmett standing in the doorway with a huge smile on his face.

"Emmett! Shut up!" I heard Edward yell at him. The bronze haired boy walked into the room and knelt beside my bed.

"How do you feel?" he asked. I tried to shrug, but it hurt my ribs.

"Well, aside from the fact that my ribs hurt like crazy and I wasn't really that awake when Emmett came in, I'm just dandy," I said sarcastically. Edward chuckled and shot a look at Emmett.

"Bella, it's good to see you awake," Carlisle said, walking into the room. I smiled warily at him as he walked around and sat on the edge of the bed.

"How do your ribs feel?"

"They hurt a lot, only when I move though. What happened to me anyway?" I asked, curious. Edward and Carlisle exchanged glances. And then they both looked at Emmett, who got the hint and left.

"Charlie…" Edward began. I nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I know that part, but how bad am I hurt?" I asked.

"It looked worse than it was last night actually," Carlisle began, "You have three broken ribs, and a lot of bruising around your stomach." I nodded. It really wasn't that bad.

"I should probably get back to work now. I've been out for too long. Call if anything goes wrong," and with that, the doctor was gone. I turned to Edward, as last night's conversation came flooding back to me.

"Edward?"

"Hm?" he asked, smiling crookedly at me.

"Can I ask you something?" I was a little afraid to ask, because I really had no idea where the conversation would lead.

"Anything," he said.

"Yesterday, when you and Carlisle came to my house, I heard you talking about…changing me…" I trailed off. Edward sighed and closed his eyes.

"Oh, right. I guess you have a right to know, then. My family and I…we're not really…like you…" he said slowly, as if figuring out how to phrase it.

"Yeah, I know. You're all beautiful!" I exclaimed. He chuckled nervously and shook his head.

"No, I mean, we're not like you. At all."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked, genuinely confused. I sighed and mumbled something completely inaudible and way too fast for me to hear.

"What would you say if I told you I'm not seventeen, I'm actually one hundred and seven?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"I'd tell you that's impossible and you can't look as hot as you do now if your one hundred and seven," I replied, brushing off the idea that crossed my mind. I'd read about those being that took human form, were drop dead gorgeous, and lived forever. But that couldn't be possible because there was one trait that just didn't fit in.

"Is it really impossible?" he asked, his now topaz eyes boring into me. "You know what I am. I know you do." I did know what he was. I just didn't want to accept it.

"If you're a….then why aren't you…how come you haven't…" I struggled to find the correct words. Maybe we weren't thinking the same thing? Maybe he was actually unicorn or something, while I was suspecting he was a…I couldn't even say it.

"How come I haven't drunk your blood?" Well ,that rules out the unicorns. I nodded solemnly.

"Because my family isn't like others of our kind. We live off of animal blood. There's another clan like ours up in Alaska. Denali. Where I used to live," he explained. I nodded my head.

"I don't believe this," I mumbled. Edward raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

"Aren't you afraid of me? I'm a monster," he whispered. My brow furrowed.

"No," I said. And those three little words that I'd never said to anyone came out of my mouth. Just like that.

"I trust you."

**So I thought the end was cute. And YAY! Bella's going to try and let Edward in. And we still need to see the rest of the Cullens' reaction to her discovery. And what about Alice and Jasper? Where are they?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I am soooooo proud of this story—you have no idea. Thank you to all of my faithful reviewers, you're the ones that keep me going. Honestly. ******** Thank you again. THIS ONE IS FLUFFY! YES!**

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**GUESS WHAT I'M LISTENING TO? 'RIVER FLOWS IN YOU'! BY YIRUMA! LISTEN TO IT!**

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face. My night had been a lot more pleasurable than I'd expected. Aside from the nightmares I had, Edward had always been there to calm me down. I looked to the side of me and saw Edward still in the same position as last night, smiling his crooked smile.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he said softly in his velvety voice. I blushed crimson at his comment. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," I replied quietly. "Did you sleep well?"

He chuckled. "I don't sleep." My eyes widened. He doesn't sleep? So what did he do all night? Just sit there and watch me?

"Ever?" I asked, dumbstruck. He nodded and laughed his smooth laugh.

"So what did you do all night?" I asked, curious. He smiled again and sat on the side of my bed. His cold hand pushed a stray tendril of hair from my eyes.

"Mostly watched you. And by the way, did you know that you talk in your sleep? You said some pretty amusing things," he told me. I blushed again. If I kept going at this rate, my face would turn into a tomato.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" I asked. I really had no idea that I talked in my sleep. No one had ever told me.

"You said some things I couldn't understand, but the most amusing was 'Emmett get those vampire peaches away from me*'" he chuckled. I blushed again.

"And the funny thing is, you don't even know him that well, and he would actually do something like that," he said laughing to himself. I giggled along with him. My giggling slowed and looked up at him, his topaz eyes sparkling.

"Wow," I mumbled.

"What?" he asked, smirking.

"This is the first time I've felt genuinely happy in a really long time," I told him, blushing. Was I actually falling for Edward Cullen? He smiled and leaned down. He pressed his cold lips to my forehead. He pulled back and I shivered.

"Are you cold?" he asked. Of course, I was making him concerned. I smiled softly and shook my head.

"No, it's not that," I said, a small smile creeping across my lips.

"Then what is it?" he asked, smiling back at me. I giggled as he poked me in the nose. But then I got serious again.

"How are you doing that?" I asked him, my eyes tracing his face. He looked confused.

"What am I doing?" he asked. I blushed.

"You're dazzling me," I replied, blushing even redder. He shifted his position so he was laying next to me.

"How so?"

"Just you in general. Your just so good looking…and you just…dazzle me," I said, unable to make an accurate statement. I didn't even know what he was doing to me.

"Hey, you aren't so bad looking yourself," he said. I blushed and looked down. He lifted my chin with his finger, so I was gazing into his topaz eyes. "Beautiful, stunning even," he continued. I blushed even redder and turned my head away, but I still felt his eyes gazing at me.

"Bella! Me and…" Alice burst through the door, but trailed off when she caught our current position. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked. I shook my head vigorously. She smiled and bounced over to my bed.

"Hey, Eddie, do you mind if I talk to Bella for a minute?" she asked in her high soprano, bubbly voice. Edward nodded and kissed my temple before he left. Alice squealed as he closed the door behind him.

"Oh

"Oh my gosh! You and Edward Cullen?" she exclaimed excitedly. She sat down at the foot of my bed and crossed her legs, making herself comfortable.

"You sleep for a whole week, and then you wake up and get the guy!" Alice has never been one to make sense.

"Wait, I slept for a _week_?" I asked, surprised. She nodded.

"Yup. Edward's been in here every second of the day," she told me. I raised my eyebrows.

"He wasn't here when I woke up," I mumbled, but she heard me.

"Yeah, he was yelling at Rosalie and Emmett to stop going at it so loud," she told me. I made a face. I refused to think about my friends in that way. I giggled, and decided to change the subject.

"So what about you and Jasper Cullen?" I asked. She blushed and her eyes lit up. I could tell it made her happy just to think about Jasper, kind of the same way it me happy to think about Edward.

"It's Jasper _Hale_," she corrected, "and yeah, we're totally going out now. I really, really, really, really like him. I think he might be the one." I rolled my eyes. She said this about every guy she dated, but I had a feeling she might mean it this time.

"So what did you and Jasper do in Olympia?" I asked. She blushed. Did I really want to hear it?

"You used protection, right?" I asked. Her head snapped up and she turned beet red.

"BELLA! I did _not _have sex with Jasper! He wouldn't allow it! Being a…" she trailed off. I had a feeling about what she wanted to say.

"Were you about to say…" I trailed off. She nodded her head.

"Vampire," we said together.

**I'm really really really REALLY sorry it's so short, but I couldn't figure out what else to do. I thought the best way to get over my writers block was to just end the chapter and start up a new one. Again, I'm really sorry, but I wanted to give you guys SOMETHING. **

***About the vampire peaches: I got that idea from llama mama23 who wrote a oneshot about vampire peaches. It's quite funny actually. You should go check it out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm SO sorry about how painfully short the last chapter was—it felt silly uploading it even—and I promise that this one will be longer. I PROMISE!!!!! Okay, so on with the show…**

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"Bella, what're you doing?" Edward asked me from the chair in the corner of the room. He was currently reading one of my books that he had stolen from my room, careful not to be noticed by Charlie. Although he must not've thought much of it, considering he had super-duper vampire speed.

But what he was concerned about now was the fact that I had my legs slung over the side of the bed, about to stand up.

"I'm sick and tired of sitting around in bed all of the time. And I haven't even seen your whole house. It's hot and stuffy in here and it smells like…well it smells like sweet peas, which I don't really mind, but I still want to get up!" I told him, brushing a tendril of hair out of my eyes. I noticed him raise his eyebrows out of the corner of my eye. I took a deep breath and hoisted myself onto my feet. I looked down and gasped inwardly.

I never id notice what they'd changed my clothes into. I was wearing bright orange sweats with the word PINK written down the leg. On top I was wearing a hot pink sweatshirt with the words 'groovy' written across the top in yellow bubble letters. The weirdest part was, the sweatshirt smelled like Edward.

"Is there a specific reason that this hot pink sweatshirt smells like you?" I asked, a smirk crossing my face. He shrugged.

"Hot pink was kind of a guy color in the eighties," he said nonchalantly. I burst into giggles as he said this. He laughed as well, but stopped abruptly and got a thoughtful look on his face.

"What?" I questioned his sudden seriousness.

"I like your giggle," he said, moving so he was sitting closer to me and on the bed next to me. I blushed and sat down next to him.

"I like your blush too," he added. My face turned even redder and my smile grew. I turned my head back at him and looked into his liquid topaz eyes. They were so mysterious. Our moment was interrupted when the door flew open, revealing a frantic looking Alice.

"Bella! Charlie's here."

My jaw dropped. My eyes watered. My bottom lip quivered. How could he come? How did he know where I was?! What was his state? Oh, gosh, I was going to get it now.

Before I could think anything else, Edward knocked my knees out from under me and carried me down the stairs bridal style. I linked my arms around his cold neck and leaned my head against his chest. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we were met by a fuming Charlie. He pushed his way past Rosalie and Jasper who had both cornered him into the corner, and made his way over to Edward and I his face beet red.

"I knew it! You little slut! I knew you've been sleeping around!" He said, pointing a finger in my face. I flinched away from him.

"Charlie, if you would calm yourself, maybe we could talk this through," Jasper said. Alice had obviously told him how much I meant to her, or he wouldn't be standing up for me.

"Shut the hell up, pretty boy. No one asked you anything," he snapped at Jasper. He turned back to me.

"Put her down, boy! Come on Bella, we're going home," Charlie seethed at me. I shook my head and cowered against Edward's cold, rock hard chest.

"No, Dad. I'm not leaving," I said in a quivering voice. I heard him laugh mockingly.

"Don't think you're going to disobey _me. _Your father!" he laughed. I shot a look at him, trying to look as confident as I could.

"You can't control me, Dad," I told him, "I'm eighteen. A legal adult." I wasn't really going to be eighteen for another month or so, but I was hoping he wouldn't notice. He looked taken aback, but regained his composure quickly.

"Eighteen? That doesn't mean I don't control you! Eighteen is a mere number!" he seethed. Tears leaked out of my eyes, and I heard a low growl come from somewhere in Edward's chest.

"Chief Swan, my family and I would appreciate it if you would leave," Edward said in a stern voice, which even frightened me a little.

"Fine. Come on Bella," he said. I shook my head, and hid myself deeper in Edward's chest, clutching onto his shirt for dear life.

"No!" I retorted. He laughed again. He reached into his pocket, his hands clasping around something. At the same time, I felt Edward clutch me tighter to him.

"Then you leave me no choice," in a flash, he had drawn his gun, and had grabbed Alice by her short, pixie like hair, and locked his arm around her neck, pointing the gun at her head. Now if Alice had been a vampire, this wouldn't be such a big problem. I heard Alice whimper quietly, as Charlie tugged on her hair. I turned my head to look at my best friend, trying to tell her with my eyes that I loved her. But I think all she saw was tears gushing out of my eyes.

"Dad, no!" I shouted, my voice raspy. I saw Edward looking at Jasper with a hard stare, nodding at him slightly. He was mouthing something. Counting downward from three. Three, two, one. On one, Jasper sprung into action, pushing Alice gently out of the way he locked his arms around Charlie's, behind my father's back, knocking the gun to the floor. I pushed myself out of Edward's arms, and fell to the floor, due to my clumsiness, but I got up quickly and rushed to Alice, who was crying hysterically.

"Alice, Alice," I cooed, wrapping her in my arms. She wrapped her arms around my torso and cried into my chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my stupid father," I said, more tears leaking out of my eyes. I felt her nod into my chest.

"Let me go, you stupid bastard," I heard Charlie seethe at Jasper. Jasper tightened his hold around my father's arms and led him to the door.

"If you ever think of coming into MY house again, and threatening anyone from MY family, there will be hell to pay. You got that?!" Jasper said in a menacing tone. I saw Charlie nod sheepishly. Jasper must've really freaked him out. He threw Charlie out the door. And slammed it loudly. He turned and his gaze immediately softened when he saw Alice's state. He rushed over to us.

"Mind if I…" he motioned to Alice. I nodded and reluctantly let my best friends go. I backed away slowly as I saw the love in her eyes when she saw Jasper. Suddenly I felt two cold arms wrap around my waist. I jumped and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain. But it never came. I felt a soft kiss in my hair, and I realized it was Edward. I relaxed into his chest.

"Sorry I frightened you," he whispered, his velvety voice sending chills down my spine.

"No, its fine," I whispered, placing my hands on his cold ones.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sensing my anxiety. He led us over to the couch that sat in the corner, sitting me beside him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken, that's all," I assured him. I sighed and leaned my head against his hard shoulder. Then I thought of something.

"Edward?"

"Hm?"

"Um, before, I saw you counted backwards to Jasper and you were nodding at him and stuff. How did you know that Charlie was actually going to shoot Alice?" I asked, barely above a whisper. He sighed and put his head atop mine,

"He was thinking it," he responded.

"So if you knew he was thinking it…then you must be able to…" I trailed off. He can read minds. If he could read minds, then he'd know what I was thinking! Oh gosh, he'd know that I think I'm falling for him and how much I enjoyed being with him and that I was afraid of getting close to any other guy after what my father did to me!

"S-so you can r-read my m-mind?" I stuttered nervously. He chuckled. It wasn't funny! It was an invasion of privacy, if anything! Certainly not funny!

"No, Bella. That's why I'm so attracted to you. I can't read your mind. Every time I try, I just get a really bad migraine," he said, laughter evident in his voice. Well, that was a relief. He didn't know I liked him. But did he say he was a attracted to _me_?

"You're attracted to m-me?" I asked, blushing scarlet. He chuckled again. I didn't see the humor he was getting out of my nervousness.

"Yes. Not only for that reason, but because your insanely beautiful, kind and caring, and well, to put it bluntly, you smell good," he said proudly. How is he so confident? If that was me telling him that I liked him, I would be stuttering all over the place, and probably start crying like a baby because I was so nervous.

"That's flattering," I mumbled. I smelled my shoulder. I didn't think I smelled good. I thought I needed a shower.

"But I really don't smell that good," I told him. He shook his head.

"But you do. You humans' scent sense isn't as strong as us vampires. And it's not you physically that smells good, although I bet you would smell good if you took a shower, it's your blood that smells good." Well. I wasn't expecting _that._

"Um, thanks. I think," I replied, giggling a little.

"Anyway, if you really want a shower, it's upstairs and the first door on the left," he told me, kind of changing the subject. I mumbled a 'thanks' to him and got up, and went into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and stripped off my clothes, horrified at the sight of all of the bruises in my midsection. I looked away and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run all over me.

So much had happened in the last week and a half. I'd gotten beaten up, saved, figured out that Edward was a vampire, and watched my best friend from getting shot. Who knows what would happen next week, but knowing me, a lot.

I rinsed the last of the strawberry shampoo out of my hair, which I guessed to be Rosalie's and turned off the shower. I stepped out and wrapped myself in a white fluffy towel. But then I groaned, because I forgot to bring some clean clothes with me, and there was no way I was putting those smelly sweats back on. I opened the bathroom door cautiously, and peeked my head out. No one seemed to be around, so I stepped out and made a beeline for Rosalie's room.

I opened the door and started to walk in, but stopped in my tracks when I saw who was in the room. Rosalie and Emmett. Making out. On the bed. I must've yelped or something, because they stopped and looked at me.

"Bella, what are you…clothes! You need clothes! Crap Bella, I'm so sorry!" she pushed Emmett off of her and straightened out her white shirt and denim vest. She hurried into her walk in closet, and quickly pulled out a bundle of clothes.

"I'm really sorry for…that," I apologized, my face turning beet red. Rosalie smiled and handed me a pile with what looked like a pair of light blue sweatpants, and a light green pullover sweatshirt that said PINK U on the front. I left the room quickly, slamming the door behind me.

After getting dressed in the sweats and sweatshirt, which I later found out were from Victoria's Secret (something I would never wear) I went back downstairs to find Edward sitting on the couch, read my copy of _Wuthering Heights _with a smirk on his face. I said down tentatively next to him and he turned to look at me.

"So I heard you walked in on Emmett and Rose going at it," he said, trying not to laugh. I rolled my eyes and turned red again.

"Gee, news travels fast around here," I commented. He laughed.

"No, just Emmett was thinking…" his face turned serious, "about how he would go for you if he weren't with Rosalie." I grimaced at the thought of Emmett. He laughed at my reaction.

"Don't worry, I have my eye on someone else," I boldly flirted. He laughed, and I thought that maybe, Just maybe, things wouldn't turn out so badly after all.

**Here you have it! A lot longer than the last one. Five pages. So a little fluff, a little drama, and a little humor. YAY!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Happy New Year, everyone! Here's a brand new chapter to start off 2009! I hope it's good!**

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**Someone requested lemons? I definitely wouldn't even think of doing that now at this point in the story, but how would you guys feel about me adding some later? I really want your opinions!**

I nervously stepped out of Edward's silver Volvo. It was my first day back at school, and I couldn't be more terrified. Edward assured me over and over that I'd be fine, but I couldn't bring myself to agree with him. We stopped in front of the hood of his car, and waited for the rest of the Cullens, plus Alice to pile out of their own cars. We met in front of Edward's car.

"You ready for this Bells?" Alice asked me. It didn't really matter, but I nodded to make her feel better. She smiled at me and clasped her hand with mine. It helped a little. We set out for building two, where all of the senior lockers were located. We parted ways, Alice, Jasper and I going down one hallway and Edward, Emmett and Rosalie going down the other. As I was loading my things into my locker, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see the one and only, Jessica Stanley with her friend, Lauren Mallory.

"Hi Bella," she said in fake friendliness. I matched her fakeness and put on a fake smile.

"Hi Jessica. Hi Lauren," I said in a peppy voice. I heard Alice snicker next to me, and saw Jasper smile.

"Listen, I want to say I'm really sorry about your Dad." My body tensed up. How did she know? Who had told her? It definitely hadn't been any of the Cullens! Who else had known?

"But don't worry, my mom made him extra happy, if you know what I mean," she chirped. My jaw dropped. Charlie…had sex with…Mrs. Stanley. Mrs. Married Stanley. Oh, God, this was getting scandalous. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I turned my back to her.

"Get the hell away from us Jessica, no one wants you here," Alice snapped, putting her hand on my back.

"Oh, Bella, getting a lot of action, are we? First Edward Cullen, and now little miss Mary-Alice," a tear rolled down my cheek as I rested my head against the locker. Alice started rubbing my back up and down, whispering that I should just ignore her. I tried to listen to her, but it didn't really help.

"Go away, Jessica," Jasper said, starting to get annoyed. I turned my head a little so I could see what she would do next. She walked up to Jasper and trailed a finger down his chest.

"I'm sorry, Jasper," she said, trying to sound seductive, but it came out sounding like she had just inhaled a lot of helium, "maybe I could repay you somehow." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the last part.

"Actually, Jessica," he said, moving her hand away from him, "I already have a girlfriend. And even if I didn't, I would go out with you if you were the last girl on Earth. Or whatever _you _are," he said. Alice giggled at the last part, and I couldn't help but let a small smile come across my lips.

"Who's your girlfriend?!" Jessica asked, shocked. He looked at Alice. Jessica followed his gaze and made a face.

"_Mary-Alice Brandon?! _Geek extraordinaire?! Why the hell would you pick her over me?!" Jessica was outraged now, but it seemed like she was really overreacting.

"I'm sorry, didn't I tell you to get out of here a little while ago?" Jasper asked, trying to hide a smirk. Jessica huffed and turned to leave, Lauren followed her. I turned around and sunk to the floor, just as Jessica turned in the middle of the hallway to say something else.

"Oh, and don't worry, Bella. Everyone knows about your situation with Daddy, and I told everyone to be super nice to you!" she turned on her heel and bounced away. I felt many pairs of eyes on me at that moment, and I burst into tears. I hid my face in my knees.

"Oh, Bella, just ignore her," Alice said, kneeling down and engulfing me in a hug. I cried into her arm. I glanced up for a moment, just long enough to see Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett, anger prominent on all of their faces, but mostly Edward's. They were traveling at a quick human speed, and within second they had reached us. Edward knelt down on the other side of me, opposite Alice. He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Bella," he said in his velvet voice. The moment I heard his voice, I broke down all over again. I broke away from Alice's grip, which she seemed to understand, and wrapped my arms around Edward's neck. He shifted me so I was in his lap and I just cried into his neck. He rubbed my back up and down, as I heard Rosalie screaming, 'stop staring! There's nothing to see here anyway!' I wanted to smile, but I couldn't. My heart was in too much pain at the moment.

"Ms. Swan! Mr. Cullen! There will be no public displays of affection in my school!" I heard the principal, Mrs. Clearwater. She was a really annoying middle aged woman, who seemed like she was in a mid life crisis every day. I looked up, and her eyes softened when she saw my state. My eyes were probably puffy and red, and there was no doubt that I had tearstains on my cheeks, along with stray hair sticking to my face. She knelt down in front of me.

"Mr. Cullen, would you mind helping Ms. Swan into the front office? I'm sure Ms. Madigan could offer some help," Mrs. Clearwater said maternally. Ms. Madigan. Yes, take me to Ms. Madigan. Edward nodded and hoisted me up effortlessly.

"Edward, I can walk," I whispered in his ear. He shrugged. We finally reached Ms. Madigan's office, and Edward sat down in a waiting chair, me still in his lap. Ms. Madigan looked up and hurried over, bringing a box of Kleenex with her.

"Oh, Bella dear, what happened?" she asked, her voice concerned and soft. I shook my head nad buried my head in Edward's chest.

"A girl in a class said some things, and they really upset her," Edward explained calmly. I knew what was coming. Ms. Madigan was famous for her questioning sessions.

"Was it about your father? Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. I looked up at her, confusion written on my face.

"How did you know about that?!" I demanded. She looked taken aback.

"Bella, dear, the whole town probably knows about it now! It was in the newspaper! The front page! _Forks Daily_!" my mouth dropped open. Charlie abusing me was in the newspaper? On the front page?! I jumped up suddenly, my mood changing from sad and scared to furious.

"Why the hell was my personal business on the front page of a freaking newspaper?!" I demanded. Ms. Madigan looked confused.

"Well wouldn't you think that the town would want to know if their police chief was arrested?" she asked calmly. _Arrested? ARRESTED?! _Charlie was arrested? When? For what? Oh. My. God. The Cullens. The Cullens turned him in. I turned around and glared at Edward furious.

"YOU! You turned him in for abusing me, didn't you?! You idiot! Now everyone will know!" I yelled at him. He shook his head slowly, looking genuinely confused. It was probably his super duper vampire acting skills.

"Abusing you, Bella, Chief Swan was abusing you?" Ms. Madigan asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Isn't that why he got arrested?" I was really confused now. Why didn't she know? She seemed to know all about everything else, why hadn't she known about the most important detail?

"No, he got arrested for rape! He raped Jessica's mother, didn't you know?" Jessica's mother?! Charlie raped Mrs. Stanley? My jaw dropped once again.

"But Bella, this abuse thing is very serious. I have to call the police right away," Ms. Madigan said. And to my own surprise, I didn't stop her. I just felt my face blank, and I nodded my head, giving her permission. I turned around and sat down in Edward's waiting lap, he engulfed me in his arms, no questions asked.

_-Strong on the Surface-_

After my little discovery at school, Mrs. Clearwater thought it would be appropriate if Edward and I were excused from school early. She wasn't going to let Edward leave at first, but since I refused to leave without him, she finally caved and let him leave as well.

My thoughts were interrupted by Edward's cell phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID and sighed.

"Bells, I have to take this. I'll be back in a moment," he said. I nodded and crawled out of his lap, and sat down on the white couch. He opened his phone and walked over to the window in the corner, looking outside as he talked. It was Carlisle.

"Carlisle?...Yes…oh, is this about Esme?" Esme? What could he possibly be calling about for? Edward glanced at me and continued speaking to Carlisle in a very quick, hushed tone. He hung up within the minute. He came back and sat down next to me, shifting me so I was sitting in his lap again.

"Edward? What did Carlisle want?" I asked, trying to sound subtle.

"Just calling to chat."

"Really? Then why did I hear you mention my dead future step-mother?" I raised my eyebrow. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, Carlisle said I could tell you, so here it is. Your step mother, Esme, isn't really dead. Well, she's dead in the human sense, but not in the sense that she's buried six feet underground," he explained. What was that boy talking about?

"What are you saying?" I asked, confused.

"Carlisle was Esme's doctor. He was attracted to her so strongly that he couldn't let her die. So he…this might be a little hard for you to take in, but…Carlisle changed Esme. Into a vampire, and he's bringing her over today, when everyone else gets home," he said. My eyes widened and a smile crossed my face.

"So she…she's not dead?!" I exclaimed. This was great! Esme wasn't dead, and she could come back and she could adopt me and be my new mother! "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've met up with her earlier and stopped burdening you with my presence!"

"Bella, it isn't that simple, and by the way, I like having you around, a lot actually. Newborn vampires, they don't have any self control. The first thing they want when they wake up is human blood. That's why Carlisle couldn't bring her over sooner. It takes months, or even years for a newborn vampire to learn to control it's thirst," he explained to me.

"Then why is he bringing her over today? Are you trying to sacrifice me or something?" I asked, panicking.

"No, of course not, my Bella. I would never let that happen to you. Carlisle experimented with something. He put a lot of morphine in her system before he bit her, so he thinks that that's going to dull down her thirst. And plus, he said that she remembers you, and hasn't stopped talking about you since Carlisle reminded her, so he thinks that her love for you will help also," he finished. I didn't know what to say. Esme was coming. _Esme. _I must've still had a frightened look on my face, because Edward held me tighter.

"Don't worry, Bella, love. You will have five experienced vampires protecting you and Alice throughout this. And I would never let anything happen to you." A million questions flooded through my brain. Alice was coming over too? Where was Esme right then? Did he just call me _love_?

"Where is Esme? I mean, if she's as ravenous and uncivilized as you say, then why hasn't she found her way into Forks?" I asked.

"She was up in Denali, Alaska. Remember, where I used to live? She was being watched by the Denali clan that lives there, Tanya, Kate, Carmen, Eleazer, Kate, and Irina. They're the only other coven like us, that doesn't feed off humans. Which reminds me, they'll be coming around with Carlisle and Esme as well. They wouldn't let her out of their sight. And before you ask, yes, they have briefed her about how we do not feed on humans." I had gone from excited to confused to scared in a matter of minutes. So what he was trying to tell me was that Alice and I were going to be the only humans in a house full of eleven experience vampires, and one newborn? But my fear faded when I thought of seeing Esme again. I smiled once again, and Edward looked at me sideways.

"Aren't you afraid of being in a house with twelve vampires? " I shook my head.

"I was, but then I thought of how you were going to be here," I smiled, and he chuckled and kissed my forehead. My smile faded and his laughing ceased, and we looked deep into each others' eyes.

"Wow…I think I'm falling for you, Edward Cullen," I said, barely above a whisper. He smiled.

"I've already fallen. Very, very hard," he replied, his perfect features lighting up once again.

**So the truth is out! The much anticipated (I hope) explanation of where Esme is. I hope the morphine thing is alright, I wasn't really sure how you would take it, I personally think its a little cliché for her to have good self control, but I think it's believable. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow! I got so many reviews for the last chapter! Thank you so much! I love reading and replying to your reviews, especially when you ask me questions! Here's another good chapter (in my opinion), the one about Esme finally coming to the Cullens' home! Even some Carlisle/Esme romance maybe??**

***(AR) means anonymous reviewer.**

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**Sorry if the beginning is a little off, I was listening to Linkin Park as I wrote it. LOL.**

"Alice, will you please stop that? I look fine!" I said as Alice fiddled with my hair once again. She and Rosalie had made it their duty to give me a 'makeover' before the Denali coven and Esme and Carlisle arrived. I didn't know why though, because they both knew that I had my eye on Edward, and he'd seen me at my worst.

"Stop fidgeting, Isabella!" Rosalie said sternly. I shook my head and stood up. I was wearing black skinny jeans , a royal blue chiffon shirt with a tie, and black kitten heels on my feet. I had compromised with Alice and Rosalie, telling them I couldn't wear the silver pumps that had originally picked out for me, claimed I was too clumsy (which was true) and they settled for the lower kitten heel style. My hair was pulled into a ponytail, with strands coming out and framing my face.

"I do not want to participate in your little game of Bella torture!" I told them Rosalie put her hands on her hips. She was wearing a red mini dress that fell to about her thighs, with a Greek goddess feel with the straps and a pair of gold patent pumps on her feet.

"Bella, just sit down so I can do your makeup! Edward can wait ten more minutes!" she demanded. I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Edward is not the reason I want this over with!" I retorted. I was kind of lying, I wanted to get back to Edward, because he made me feel safe, and he calmed my nerves. But I also wanted it over with because I couldn't stand people playing Barbie with me.

"Oh, yes he is!" Alice said, "but fine. If you don't want makeup, I'll leave you alone. I'm too nervous to fight with you." She sank down in a chair in the corner. She was wearing a deep purple satin strapless top and black skinny jeans with purple Mary-Jane pumps. "Come on, Rose, leave her alone." Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Well, come on then! Our guests will be here any minute," Rosalie said anxiously. The butterflies came back into my stomach. Esme was coming. I was going to see Esme again, and I couldn't wait. Alice took my hand and dragged me out in to the hallway and down the stairs. I caught a glimpse of Edward. He was wearing dark jeans and a green button down shirt. He smiled at me as I descended the staircase, making me blush.

"I like that color on you," he said when I reached him, referring to the blue. I blushed again, as Jasper cleared his throat.

"Okay, everyone. Tanya and company will be here very soon, along with Esme and Carlisle. Bella, you are to stay with Edward at all times, Alice, you are to stay with me. Rosalie and Emmett will welcome our guests, and Alice, Edward, Bella and I will be sitting casually on the couch in the corner. Do not draw attention to us. Let Esme figure out that there are humans here on her own; Carlisle wants to see how she reacts. And you two," he motioned to Alice and I, "no sudden movements." We nodded as we heard Rosalie yelp.

"They're here!" I shivered as I felt Edward guide me over to the couch. My heart sped up, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder casually, and kissed my forehead.

"Calm that heart of your down, Bells. I can hear it from here," he said. I nodded and took deep breaths, but they didn't really seem to help. Rosalie opened the door, revealing five extremely beautiful people—vampires, rather. The woman in front was tall with pale skin and long strawberry blonde hair. Her eyes were the same ocher color as all of the rest, as well as the Cullens. The next was a man, a bit taller than the first woman, with brown hair that was cut strangely, sticking out in all directions. He held hands with a beautiful, tall blonde woman. The last two were talking quietly amongst themselves, one had long brown hair, and the other had long jet black hair. They all shared the same, dull, amber eyes.

"Tanya! It's so nice to see you again!" Rosalie cooed, hugging the woman with strawberry blonde hair tightly.

"Eleazer," Emmett said, shaking the man's hand.

"And Kate! I love your dress!" Rosalie said, hugging the tall blonde woman.

"Irina and Carmen, still as feisty as ever!" Emmett joked, hugging each of the arguing women who were standing in the back.

"It's so good to finally see our old friends again!" Tanya said happily. Her eyes scanned the room, landing on Edward and I. The mood in her eyes seemed to change from excited to suggestive as she slowly walked over to where we were sitting.

"Hi Edward," she said, batting her eyelashes. Edward nodded at her, not removing his arm form my shoulders.

"Tanya. It's nice to see you again," he said in his velvety voice. She smiled again, revealing her pefect white teeth.

"You as well," she said. Then her gaze flickered to me. She bent down and put her hands on her knees, so she was at our level.

"And who's this little one?" she asked.

"This is Bella. The human. And that's Alice," he said, pointing to Alice, who looked equally as afraid as I did, "the other human." She noticed Edward's arm around my shoulders and growled quietly.

"Oh. It's nice to meet you both," she said sourly, turning on her heel and walking back to the group at the door. I turned to Edward.

"What's with her?"

"She's had a thing for Edward ever since they first met. But Edward was never interested, him being the little prude that he is," Jasper said, making Alice and me giggle. Edward shot Jasper a look and growled quietly.

"Rosalie? Emmett? Can you come here?" a voice came from outside. I suspected it was Carlisle. Rosalie and Emmett exchanged excited glances and hurried outside. I craned my neck to see out the window. Sure enough, Rosalie and Emmett were standing with blond haired Carlisle, and a woman with shiny caramel colored hair that I suspected was Esme. I couldn't see her face though, for she had her back to me.

"They're bringing her in!" Kate cried, pulling Eleazer out of the way. The crowd at the door parted, and Rosalie walked in first. She kicked off her pumps, and crouched into a defensive position a few feet away from the doorway. The other vampires copied her. My heart sped up again as I saw Carlisle and Emmett holding onto the arms of a very beautiful woman. She had long, wavy caramel colored hair, high cheekbones, a heart shaped face, and there were slight dimple on her cheeks. But that wasn't what surprised me the most. Her eyes. Her eyes were blood red. Thirsty, evil looking almost. Edward sensed my nervousness, and tightened his grip around my shoulders.

"Esme," Tanya said, shaking her hand. Esme ripped her hand free from Emmett, and shook Tanya's hand.

"It's so nice to meet you," she said, smiling. She stopped and looked around the room. She inhaled deeply and I held my breath. She exhaled with a sigh.

"Oh, what is that delicious smell?" she said in a dreamy voice. Edward bent his head so his lips were right by my ear.

"I told you you smelled good," he said. I giggled nervously.

"Remember the surprise I had for you, Esme, dear?" Carlisle said. She nodded her head.

"I brought someone very special to see you, today," he told her. She looked around, still not able to see Alice and I.

"Well? Where are they? I can smell them already!" she said, getting annoyed, but she calmed down immediately. I looked over at Jasper, who seemed to be concentrating very hard on something. Edward followed my gaze.

"Jasper can control people's emotions. He focusing on keeping Esme calmed down," he whispered. I nodded nervously.

"Okay, Kate, Eleazer, Carmen, Irina? You can move out of the way. I think she's ready," Carlisle said, tightening his grip on her arm, as did Emmett. The group parted, and I came face to face with Esme. She gasped a little, bit her lip.

"Bella," she whispered. All I could do was nod. Tears pooled in my eyes. Esme was standing before me. Alive. Well, not really, but she was still standing there.

"You smell…so…" she stuttered. I could tell she was trying desperately to control herself. I moved my hands and clung to Edward's shirt, in fear that she would attack me.

"She isn't going to attack you. She's thinking about your past together. Kind of having a flashback," Edward whispered to me. I nodded.

"Bella, honey," she said quietly, "where's Charlie?" She remembered. She remembered everything, and she was scared. Even though Charlie couldn't possibly hurt her now, she was still afraid. I shook my head, and smiled a little.

"He's gone, Esme. He's in prison,' I told her. I heard some of the Denali coven questioning who Charlie was, but they shut up when Esme sighed again.

"Bella. Can you come here? I won't hurt you. I swear," she looked genuine enough. Edward must've thought so too, because he stood up, and helped me on my feet as well. We walked slowly over to her, Carlisle telling us to continue. We stopped just a few feet away from her. My hand was squeezing Edward's hand so hard, that if he was human, I probably would've broken it.

"Let me touch her, Carlisle," she demanded. I could see the longing in her eyes. Carlisle was hesitant.

"I don't know if that's the best…" he began.

"Carlisle! Please," she said, her voice quivering. Carlisle finally gave in and slowly let go of her arm. She breathed deeply before slowly reaching out to me. I used the hand that wasn't on the verge of breaking Edward's hand to reach out slowly as well. My breathing sped up, and I felt Jasper calming me, keeping me away from hyperventilating. I reached up slowly and touched her hand with my fingertips. She was so cold. As soon as she felt my touch, her eyes flickered up to mine. She clasped her hand with mine.

"I've missed you, Bella,' she whispered. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"I've missed you too, Esme. More than you know," I whispered back, more tears coming. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emmett loosening his grip on Esme's arm. My first thought was 'what the hell are you doing Emmett, are you trying to get me killed?' but then I saw the love in Esme's blood red eyes, and I knew that she would never hurt me.

She lowered our hands, still keeping them clasped together, and turned to Carlisle.

"Thank you, Carlisle. Thank you for trusting me," she said. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, and I thought that if Carlisle were human, he would be turning bright red right then. He got the goofiest grin on his face and nodded at her, as if speechless. Everyone in the room 'awed' and Carlisle earned himself a slap on the back from Emmett, and a month of teasing, no doubt. Esme turned back to me.

"Thank you for trusting me, my Bella. I love you," and without warning, she pulled me into her arms and hugged me tightly. I heard everyone in the room gasp, and everyone crouched into defensive positions, and I felt Edward grab my hand. Slowly, I realized that she meant nothing wrong, and I responded by wrapping my arms around her as well. And then, the waterworks came

Tears streamed down my face for I don't know how long, and I felt Esme bring me over to the couch next to Jasper and Alice. When I finally stopped crying, I looked up to see that everyone had gone off to do their own thing, and I was left alone with Esme. Carlisle was sitting in the corner reading, periodically looking up to check that Esme hadn't killed me, and Edward and Emmett were sitting on the floor playing a heated game of Halo on the Xbox. I looked back up at Esme, to see her soft, red eyes looking back at me.

"What's got you down, my Bella?" she asked in her same soft voice, yet it was more musical and soft this time.

"I just… missed you…" I whispered. At the sound of my voice, Edward paused the game and whipped his head around.

"Bella!" he exclaimed, jumping up.

"Hey! You can't just quit in the middle of the game!" Emmett protested. Edward rolled his eyes.

"I can, and I will," he said, ending the conversation. He climbed on to the couch and sat on the right of Esme, and took my hand.

"Are you alright now, love?" he asked. Again with calling me _love. _Esme glanced at me, her eyebrows raised, but I ignored her.

"Yes, Edward. I am fine," I told him. Then I noticed how dark his eyes were and the dark bags under his eyes. I gasped.

"Edward! You need to hunt!" I exclaimed. He shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. I'll stay," he retorted. I shook my head.

"No. You're thirsty. Just look at you! I'm sure Emmett would gladly go with you!" I motioned to Emmett who was kneeling next to the couch and nodding his head like a little five year old. Edward sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Anything for you, I suppose," he said, standing up.

"Edward, why don't you see if any of our guests would like to join you?" Carlisle suggested, "I think Esme's pretty stable right now, and I think you deserve a break." Edward nodded and went out of the room followed by a bouncing Emmett.

"Now Bella," Esme said. I shifted so I wasn't sitting on her anymore. I turned and sat cross legged facing her.

"Now Esme," I said, matching her tone. I already had an idea of what she wanted to talk about.

"You do realize that Edward Cullen has it bad for you," she told me, as if I didn't already know. I heard Carlisle chuckle from the corner, and Edward growl from the other room.

"You know it's true, Eddie!' she yelled at him, using his least favorite nickname. He was out the door in a flash, followed by Emmett, Tanya, Rosalie, Eleazer and Kate.

"You know it's true as well," Esme told me. I blushed and nodded.

"You like him too, I can tell," Esme told me. I blushed again and looked away. Stupid vampire perceptiveness.

I suddenly thought of a comeback. "What about you and Carlisle?" I said, loud enough for him to hear. His head shot up at the sound of his name. I shot him a knowing look.

"Shh!' she shushed me. She placed a cold hand over my mouth to shut me up, although it was quite obvious that Carlisle had heard me, and he had a smirk on his face as he went back to his book.

"This is not about me! It's about you!" And with that, she went into the long conversation of how Edward was obviously crazy about me, and for some reason, I kind of believed her.

**There it is! So Esme is back (yay) and she had some problems at first, but she's okay (for now:P) I hope you aren't disappointed in how I perceived Esme's thirst, but you have to understand that for the sake of the story not dragging, I had to do it. And I thought it was a pretty good idea, if I do say so myself. LOL.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Wowzers, man! I got so many reviews for the last chapter! Thanks so much! And I've reached my 100 review mark as of chapter seven, I forgot to mention that in the last chapter. LETS THROW A VIRTUAL PARTY!**

**Anyway, I had the strangest dream last night. I was Bella Swan. It was really quite nice, until my mother came and woke me up because it was close to noon. Oh well. Maybe I'll have a continuation of it tonight!**

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**Quick question: Is Eleazer's mate Kate or Carmen? Someone told me I made a mistake in saying it was Kate and they said it was Carmen. **

The coven form Denali left within the week of Esme's arrival; they saw that she was stable and their help was no longer needed. Jasper and Alice had grown much closer in such a short period of time, it was almost sickening. They went everywhere together and spent ample amount of time in Jasper's room, doing God only knows what (but I think I have an idea. Ew.) Carlisle and Esme have also gotten much closer, although their relationship is much more sweet and cute to look at then Alice and Jasper's or Emmett's and Rosalie's, which consists of them sucking face all the time.

Alice keeps bugging me about how I should ask Edward out, and that maybe I could end up like her and Jasper. I'm not really sure if Alice is the greatest role model that I should look up to (figuratively of course, she's at least a head shorter than me).

At the moment, Alice and I were enjoying a quiet breakfast together before school, since we were the only ones in the house that we ate.

My eyes were wandering around as I ate my cereal, but they fell upon a large black and blue spot on Alice's shoulder. She had obviously tried to hide it with the purple boatneck she was wearing, but I could see the edge of the bruise peeking out.

"Alice! Where did you get that bruise!" I asked, shocked. On instinct, I feared the worst. Maybe Alice's aunt that she hated so much turned on her and started hitting her. Obviously, Alice knew what I was thinking, because she immediately put her hand on mine.

"Bella, it's fine. It's nothing like that," she told me. I nodded And calmed myself down.

"Well? Then what is it?" I asked, relieved that it was probably my klutziness rubbing off on her.

She looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was around and leaned in closer to me.

"I had sex with Jasper," she said in a low voice. I heard whoops coming from the other room, and I suspected that Emmett had heard. Alice rolled her eyes.

"When?!" I had expected this, I mean, what else would they be doing up in his room for hours on end? I just didn't expect her to come right out and say it, and it also didn't explain the huge bruise on her shoulder.

"A couple of days ago, yesterday, last night…" she listed. I covered my eyes with my hand, trying to block the mental images from getting any more vivid.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain the huge bruise on your shoulder!" I exclaimed quietly, but obviously still too loud for her liking, because she shushed me.

"You know how Jasper's a vampire?" she asked me. I nodded. Of course I knew. "And you know how they have super strength and stuff?" I nodded. It clicked. Jasper got so worked up over their…activities, he probably lost control or something.

"I guess I got him really hot, and he got a little out of control. He even bit some of the pillows and busted the headboard. **(a/n: sound familiar?) **It was rather erotic, really," she told me, sounding proud about getting him 'hot,' since he was a vampire and had ice cold skin. I squeezed my eyes shut and plugged my ears and started singing 'Ring Around the Rosie,' until she stopped talking.

"Alice, all I asked was how you got the bruise on your shoulder. Not the details of your sex life that I'm going to be burdened with for the rest of my life," I told her in an annoyed tone. She shrugged and finished up her cereal. She put the bowl on the counter and skipped out of the room. I followed shortly after.

_-Strong On the Surface-_

"Finally! It's Friday! I thought this week would never end!' I groaned as Edward pulled into the garage of the house. He smiled my favorite crooked grin over at me. The one that always made me blush.

He got out of the car and sped around the car at vampire speed to open my door for me. Emmett's Jeep pulled in after us, skidding to a halt inches from Edward's silver Volvo, causing Edward to growl.

"One more inch, Emmett, and you're dead," Edward snarled at his brother. Apparently, these Cullens cared a lot about their cars. Emmett laughed mockingly as he opened the door to the Jeep and jumped out.

"I'd like to see you try, little Eddie," he said, slamming the door behind him. He stuck out his tongue at Edward and bounced away, Rosalie in tow. Edward shook his head.

"How juvenile," he mumbled as he took my hand with his cold one and led me into the house. Emmett had already plopped himself on the floor in front of the Xbox and had begun a heated game of Halo 3, Rosalie was on the couch behind him, his back against her knees, looking at a fashion magazine. Esme was polishing the portraits of the family on the wall, and Carlisle was nowhere to be seen, most likely to be in his office. Everyone was home, except for two very important people.

"Where's Alice?" I asked. Emmett looked up at me and laughed his booming laugh.

"He's upstairs with Alice. Apparently, little Jazzy Boy is getting more action than little Eddie boy. I have to say, Edward. I'm quite disappointed in you. The 107 year old virgin," Emmett laughed again. I heard Edward growl again as he picked up the closest thing he could find, which happened to be a lamp, and hurled it straight at Emmett's face. Emmett held up his hand up in front of his face, and the lamp shattered.

Esme dropped the dust rag on the floor and gasped. "My lamp!" she hurried over to examine the damage.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen and Emmett McCarty Cullen! Go to your rooms! Now!" Esme screamed so loud that I was sure that Alice and Jasper could hear. Emmett jumped up.

"Me?! What did I do?! He's the one that threw the lamp!" he exclaimed, pointing at Edward. Edward crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head.

Esme shook her head. And Emmett whined. "Emmett Cullen, if you don't get your fat butt upstairs right this instant, I will kick it there myself," Esme said. "And you know how we newborn vampires can be." She gave him a knowing look. The last part seemed to scare him enough, because he let out a yelp and hurried up the stairs after Edward. It was funny how Edward and Emmett acted like such children sometimes, yet they were both over sixty years old.

I couldn't contain myself any longer. I burst into giggles as did Rosalie. I walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her. We calmed ourselves quickly.

"Sometimes I wonder why I love that guy," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "Did I ever tell you about the day he proposed to me? For the first time?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head, wondering what she meant by first time.

"No, and what do you mean by first time?" I asked. She smiled again.

"Emmett and I…well, you see, I'm about ninety four-ish, in that range, I've lost track, and Emmett's like seventy or something. We've gotten married to get the whole experience over and over again, and plus we get bored. But the honeymoon's the best part." She wiggled her eyebrows. I shuddered to think about Emmett and Rosalie's honeymoon 'activities.'

"So the first time, we were like one year old, as in he'd been a vampire for about a year, and we'd been living with Carlisle for that amount of time. So he took me on this boat, and I had no idea why we were there, it was rather a trashy boat, really, a motorboat. So I thought he took me there to dump me at first, but then he told me to look up and I saw that he had gotten those cool little fireworks that write works, and he wrote a message. It said 'marry me, Rose.' And then I looked down and saw that he was on his knee with the most beautiful diamond ring in the world," she glanced at her hand, "I'm not wearing that one right now, but it was so beautiful. And then I got so excited I jumped on him and we were…making out , I guess you could say, and we didn't notice the sudden shift in the boat until it flipped! Even though it ruined my hair, I still think it's the most romantic thing ever," she gushed.

I smiled. I'd never knew that Rosalie had such a soft side.

"That's really nice. At first glance, I never thought Emmett was…capable of something like that," I struggled with my word choice. She laughed her melodic laugh.

"Yes. They were never like that again, I can tell you that. Mostly he just takes me outside under the stars or something in the middle of the night, so I wake up half the town with my screaming," I giggled again, but stopped as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jasper and Alice emerged slowly laughing about something private, hand in hand.

"Did you two have fun?" Rosalie asked smugly. Alice blushed and Jasper huffed.

"Where are Emmett and Edward?" Alice asked, the pink fading form her cheeks.

"They got into a little fight and broke Esme's lamp so they got sent upstairs to their rooms," Rosalie answered.

"What was the fight about?" Jasper asked.

"Emmett was making fun of Edward for not getting any 'action,' like you and him were. It was quite humorous, actually," Rosalie explained. I felt my face turning scarlet.

"Action as in…" Alice looked at Rosalie, and nodded. She suddenly burst into giggles.

"Hey! Don't talk about it. He can probably hear everything we're saying right now!' I told them.

Before anyone could say anything else, we heard a loud bang and then laughter and a long string of profanities. Edward came walking down the stairs a few second later, doubled over in laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked after he composed himself.

"Emmett busted the wall!" he exclaimed, laughing a little again. We exchanged glances.

"Why?" Rosalie asked, obviously getting annoyed with her husband. It was sweet how she could go from so dreamy-eyed to completely annoyed with him. Edward stopped laughing abrupty and his face turned serious.

"I was humming," he said, looking away. I was sure that if he could blush, he would be.

"What were you humming?" I asked curiously. Everyone around my started snickering, including Alice, as if they knew something I didn't. Edward growled.

"Someone wanna tell me what I'm missing?" I asked, my voice getting an irritated edge.

"Edward plays the piano, Bella," Rosalie laughed. I didn't see anything wrong with that.

"And? What's wrong with playing the piano?" I asked.

"He was humming the song he wrote for you. I could hear him all the way down here," Rosalie said, giggling. He wrote a song for me? That is _so _sweet! I looked at Edward, who was looking anywhere but me at the moment.

"You wrote a song for me?" I asked softly. His gaze flickered to mine and he nodded ever so slightly. I smiled and blushed a little.

"Will you, um, play it for me?" I asked, turning redder by the second. He smiled and helped me up and led me into the next room with all of the windows and the piano. He led me over to the piano bench where he sat, and motioned for me to sit next to him.

He began the song. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. It started out slow, with very few notes, but it picked up towards the middle, staying soft the whole time. The ending slowed in a crescendo, and he finally finished. His body was tense next to me. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Wow," I whispered, my heart and breath picking up. He looked down at me, his brow furrowed, as if he was testing his self control. He leaned down ever so slowly, testing himself even more. I tried to lean up, but he just shook his head.

"Just…stay very still…" he said quietly, his brow furrowing even more. I nodded slightly, as he moved his face closer to mine. We were only about an inch apart now. He was concentrating so hard, that I doubted he would notice if I leaned up and closed the space between us. Which was exactly what I did. I moved my hand around to the back of his neck and pulled his lips down to meet mine. Even his super vampire reflexes weren't ready. I could tell because I felt his body tense next to me. I ran my hands down his muscles as we kissed, which seemed to calm him a little. He tentatively wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. His cold lips felt like heaven against my warm ones, and the contrast was profound. I reluctantly pulled away, for I feared turning blue and passing out due to lack of air. I removed my lips from his, but kept our foreheads together. I giggled as he traced my lips with his finger.

"Wow," I said, reaching up and taking his hand with mine. I leaned up a little and pecked his lips again.

"Bella, Edward, are you…" I heard Alice in the doorway. We didn't move our position at all. I saw Edward wave his free hand for her to go away. She got the message, because I heard the door close and her squealing on the other side. I giggled, and Edward smiled. He brought my hand to his cold lips and kissed it. I blushed as I heard the door open again, with the entire family plus Alice standing in the doorway.

"Whoop! Kiss her again, Eddie," Emmett hollered. Edward growled, but I silenced him by putting my free hand on the side of his face and connecting our lips once again.

**WOOOO! THEY KISSED! YES! ALL THE MORE REASON TO THROW A PARTY!!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I got so many reviews within a day! I'm so excited! YAY!! I knew you'd be happy with the last chapter! There will be more fluff in this chapter, I promise! Maybe not so much drama in the next few, because I think this story is taking a turn for the better. **

**Special thanks to et114141 for making me laugh while I wrote this chapter. ******

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**Just out of curiosity, what is your favorite line from the **_**Twilight **_**Saga? It can be from any of the books or the movies, I'm just curious if any of you have any particular line memorized by heart. I know I do…I have a couple, actually.**

Edward was taking me out tonight, and I couldn't say I wasn't nervous. Because I was. I had constant butterflies in my stomach, and they'd even made me feel nauseous a few times. Every time my mind would wander onto another subject, I'd think of Edward, which would make me think of our date. Date. I was going on a date with Edward Cullen. I wasn't really scared, it was mostly nervousness and excitement.

"Bella, come here," Rosalie said, motioning her hand over. Alice was out with Jasper for a while, so Rosalie was subjected to playing Barbie with me tonight.

"So Edward told me to dress casual. You'll be outside for a little while," she told me. I nodded. I was glad Edward wasn't taking me to some fancy restaurant. I don't really mix well with them.

She walked over to her walk in closet and tapped her chin with her finger. She turned to me.

"Will you wear Converse?" I nodded. Good. She wasn't dressing me in some ridiculous pair of stiletto heels. This was already off to a good start. Rosalie emerged from the closet with a stack of clothes in her hand. A pair of black low-top Converse, a distressed denim mini skirt, a pair of black leggings, a dark blue long sleeved Hollister t-shirt (knowing Rosalie, one of the cheaper shirts she owned) and a collection of silver bangles. But what surprised me and kind of repulsed me the most was the royal blue padded bran and underwear set on top.

"It's a cute outfit, Rose, what are the bra and underwear for?" I asked. Edward and I certainly weren't _that _close. We'd only kissed for the first time last night!

"Just in case. You never know what might happen. Although, you are going out with Edward. He is the biggest man-prude in the world," she debated with herself. I rolled my eyes and stopped fighting with her, retreating to the bathroom to change.

When I emerged, I was almost happy with my appearance. Rosalie squealed.

"Oh my gosh, Bella! You look so adorable!" she exclaimed. She snatched one of my headbands from the vanity and handed it to me. I took it from her, confused. Why wasn't she playing Barbie with me like she usually did?

"What's that face?" she asked, noticing my expression. Stupid Rosalie and her stupid vampire perceptiveness.

"I was just wondering why you weren't playing Barbie with me right now?" I asked. She laughed her smooth, melodic laugh.

"Oh Bella, that's Alice's job! I'm just here to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic like shave off your eyebrows or set your hair on fire. Or any fashion disasters like making you pull a Britney Spears. Wearing one of those fishnet things over a bikini top. I swear she's only famous because she's pretty," Rosalie said, sticking her nose in the air. Somebody ate some sour grapes this morning.

"Okay, come here. I'm just going to give you a little bit of mascara and some lip gloss. We won't need blush, because Edward prefers it natural," she said, making my cheeks flush scarlet. A little bit of lip gloss and two layers of mascara later, I was ready. Rosalie stepped back to admire her work.

"Ah. A masterpiece. I call it…the Bella," she said, blowing a kiss at me as if she was a professional artist. I rolled my eyes and hurried out of the room. I grabbed my blue jacket from the closet near the stairs and slipped it onto my shoulders. I made sure my phone was in my pocket, it was, and walked into the kitchen to grab a snack before we left. Carlisle and Esme were talking quickly and softly to each other before I made myself known.

"Bella," Esme said, "you look cute." I smiled and opened a new box of granola bars. Carlisle cringed and held his nose.

"I could never understand why you humans ate stuff like that. It smells just revolting," Carlisle said, disgusted. Esme nodded in agreement.

"Esme, you used to eat these all of the time," I pointed out to her, taking a bite.

"What was wrong with me?" she asked, clearly still revolted. I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I whirled around to see Edward standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets. He was wearing dark jeans and a forest green button down.

"Come on Carlisle, let's give them some privacy," Esme sia,d pushing Carlisle out of the room.

"Be safe you two! Don't do anything Emmett wouldn't do!" he called over his shoulder, making me blush. Edward chuckled as I looked away.

"Ready?" he asked, holding out his hand. I nodded, clasping my hand with his hard, cold one. He led me outside and to the edge of the woods. I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

"Why aren't we taking the car?" I asked, afraid of what he might say. I chuckled and crouched down a little, his back to me.

"Hope on. We're running. I want to show you something," he said. My mouth fell open a little, but I followed his command, hopping on his strong, muscular back and wrapped my legs around his waist. I shivered as his cold hands grasped my thighs to keep me from falling.

"Hold on tight, spidermonkey," he whispered before bolting off like a rocket into the woods. It was exhilarating to say the least. We moved blindly fast, the trees and shrubs come out as a blur as we passed them. I tried to move my head around Edward's shoulder so I could see, but it made my eyes water so I kept my forehead rested on his back.

We finally reached his destination, my eyes were still squeezed shut and my face was still buried in his back when I felt his body shake with a chuckle.

"We're here, love. You can get down, now," he said. I mumbled a quiet 'oh,' and hopped off his back, taking in my surroundings. We were in a small meadow, probably about the size of a swimming pool. Fireflies fluttered around, casting their own glows around the meadow. I could see the outlines of tall grass around the perimeter along with different types of tall flowers. I put my hand over my mouth as I made out a picnic blanket set out in the middle of the meadow, candles set out lighting the area.

Edward smiled at my excitement and led me over to the picnic blanket. We sat down across from each other, and he opened the picnic basket. He pulled out a small plastic bag and a Thermos.

"I made you peanut butter and jelly because it's the only thing I know how to make, and in the Thermos is fruit punch. Emmett likes it," he said, rolling his eyes at the last part. I smiled and took the bag, opening it. I pulled out a very messily made sandwich, peanut butter seeping out the sides. I giggled and Edward shrugged.

"It's the best I could do," he said simply. I bit into the sandwich. It was good, maybe a bit too much peanut butter, but it was still good. He watched me as I ate, a smile on his face the whole time. I blushed and looked away a couple of times.

"You're doing it again," I said. He looked confused.

"Doing what?"

"Dazzling me," I replied, finishing the last of my sandwich and unscrewing the cap to the Thermos. I took a long gulp of fruit punch.

"So Emmett actually liked this stuff?" I asked, looking into the container. Edward chuckled.

"Yes, even though he gets sick every time he drinks it," he told me. I giggled along with him, his laugh sounding much more smooth than mine.

"I love your laugh," he told me, after we quieted down. I blushed and looked away. He put his index and middle fingers under my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"I love your blush, too," he said. He leaned n and kissed me quickly. It was funny how such a simple gesture made my heart speed up. It was getting darker now, and the clouds were clearing, revealing the stars. I scooted over so I was sitting next to Edward. I lay down on the soft ground, gazing up at the stars. Edward followed my lead, although I could feel his eyes on me rather than the stars.

"I used to do this a lot when I was younger with Charlie. Before my…my mother left," I said, remembering the painful memory. Edward took my hand in his and ran his thumb over my wrist.

"Do you miss her? You're mother, I mean?" he asked. I sighed. I did miss her. More than anything in the world. Shortly after I'd left to live with Charlie, my mother had died, leaving both Charlie and I crushed.

"Yes. I miss her so much, Edward," I turned my face toward him and I felt the tears pooling in my eyes.

"I always thought that…maybe if I hadn't left to live with Charlie, then maybe she'd still be alive," I whispered, a tear trickling down my cheek. "That maybe it was my fault that she…" I trailed off. Edward sat up, pulling me with him. He put his hands on either sides of my face and wiped my tears with the pads of his cold thumbs.

"Bella Swan, don't you ever think that it is your fault your mother left you. You never knew that it would happen when you moved and it obviously couldn't be stopped," he told me, resting his forehead against mine. His cool breath made me feel better instantly. He moved his arms around my waist and laid us down, my head on his chest.

"Thank you, Edward," I said quietly, gazing up at the stars. "And I'm sorry. I'm probably ruining in the date," I said, laughing n spite of myself. I felt him shook his head and kiss my hair.

"It's fine. I'm content on just having you with me," he told me, making my heart flutter. I don't know what tipped me off, the feeling of his body against mine, that fact that he seemed to calm me down and make me feel better or what. But on thing I was certain. I was in love with Edward Cullen.

**There it is! Again, I'd like to say a big thank you to all to my reviewers! This is the most I've gotten so far for one chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am immensely sorry for not updating in so long. And I'm also really sorry for not replying to all of your reviews. I wanted getting this chapter out to be my top priority, so I didn't want to distract myself by answering reviews. I hope you understand. The reason for the delay was that I've started up school again, and I've been really busy trying to get back into the swing of things. And because I had a really bad case of writers' block. More the second one, really.**

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**A lot of people sent me their favorite **_**Twilight **_**Saga quotes, so I'm deciding to list a few.**

"**Are you referring to the fact that you can't walk across a hard, stable surface without finding something to trip over?" –Edward Cullen**

"**Stupid shiny Volvo owner." –Bella Swan**

"**Bella, it's not my fault you're exceptionally unobservant." –Edward Cullen**

"**So did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil, or what?" Mike Newton**

"**Bella, you are utterly absurd." –Edward Cullen**

**FROM THE MOVIE**

"**Yeah. Um, I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it." –Edward Cullen**

"**Yeah…well…the problem is, you two have gone public now so…" –Emmett Cullen**

"**My monkey man…" –Rosalie Hale**

**MY PERSONAL FAVORITES…**

**BELLA: "You know, you could always go for…eating disorders. Speedo padding on the swim team."**

**ANGELA: "Actually, that's a good one."**

**JESSICA: "Kirk, right?"**

**ANGELA: "Kirk."**

**JESSICA: "That's exactly what I thought."**

**ANGELA: "We're talking 'Olympic Sized.'"**

**JESSICA: "There's no way—he's just so skinny. It doesn't make sense."**

**--**

**BELLA: "A girl can dream, right?"**

**EDWARD: "Is that what you dream about? Being a monster?"**

**BELLA: "I dream about being with you forever."**

**(wow that was a really long author's note. HA xD)**

**ON WITH THE STORY!!**

"Edward! If you do not stop tickling Bella, I will have to forcibly remove you form her. I am _trying _to reorganize this room!" Alice said in an annoyed tone. My giggling subsided a little as I swatted helplessly at Edward's hands, which had found their way to my torso, the most ticklish part of me. Edward shook his head and removed his hands from me, a satisfied look on his face. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. I stood up and brushed myself off.

"Now that we've refrained from that ridiculous nonsense, can we please get on with the whole reason we're up here in the first place?" Alice said, tapping her foot. She was awesome when she was happy, but a mad Alice? Uh, uh.

We were reorganizing what had come to be Alice and my room. Alice had persuaded her aunt who didn't want anything to do with her to let her stay with the Cullens for a while, and I really didn't have anywhere else to go. We had been currently trying to assemble a new bed frame, until Edward had ambushed me with his magnificent hands.

"Edward," Alice ordered, "put it together." She pointed to the slabs of shaped wood on the floor.

"Why do I have to do it?" Edward whined. Alice raised her eyebrows.

"Because you are the 107 year old vampire, and you've probably done this a million times," she said pointedly. Edward shook his head.

"Have you ever considered the idea that I don't sleep? And that I've never had humans living in my house before?" he asked, clenching his jaw.

"Whatever, Edward. Just do it." Alice walked out of the room with her hands on her hips and her nose in the air.

"I wouldn't disobey Alice, if I were you. She can be really conniving," I whispered to Edward, making him chuckle. I was about to lean into kiss his cold lips, but I was interrupted by Alice pulling me roughly into the hallway.

"Alice!" I exclaimed. She covered my mouth with her hand, using her other to put a finger to her lips. She tiptoed quietly to the top of the staircase and peered down it. I followed.

"Your aunt," she whispered. I stifled a gasp and peered down the staircase to indeed be met with the sight of my aunt. And she looked angry. Aunt Amberly had never liked me much. Actually, I was pretty sure that she downright hated me. She never came for Christmas or Thanksgiving, never called, and I'd only seen her two other times in my life. When she invited us to her wedding to Uncle Vaughn, who died soon after (I wonder why); and my eleventh birthday party when she came over because she was drunk. All in all, she is not a very nice woman; which made me wonder why she was at the Cullens at the moment. Did she know I was here?

She looked very different from when I last saw her. Her caramel color hair was similar to Esme's, but much greasier and much rattier. Her dull brown eyes were bloodshot with dark purple bags under them. She was wearing a baggy purple jacket with ill fitting jeans.

"Just tell me where she is, Cullen," she said in her raspy voice. _Oh. My. God. _She was here for me. But why? I hadn't done anything wrong recently. I was going to school, paying the bills on the house…

"I'm telling you, Ms. Swan, your niece isn't here," Carlisle said, lying perfectly. Amberly scrunched up her nose.

"I'm not an idiot, Cullen," she said angrily, "I know she's here. Just tell me where she is so I can take away the burden." Her voice turned sweet at the last part. My eyes welled up with tears. That was why she was here. To take me away. But she oculdn't do that! She wasn't my legal guardian I was…

Uh oh.

I wasn't over eighteen.

I still had another month until my birthday. Which meant that Charlie must've granted Aunt Amberly legal custody of me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I burst into tears, loudly, I might add, and stumbled down the stairs with Edward and Alice closely behind me.

"Bella. It's so nice to see you," Amberly said in a sickly sweet voice. I shook my head and stepped back into Edward's chest. I felt his arms wrap around my waist protectively.

"What do you want?" I asked in a quivering voice. I was becoming far too sensitive for this interrogating stuff.

"Well what do you think, Bella dear? I'm here to take you with me back to my house. To live with me," she said, stepping closer to me. I shook my head.

"NO!" Alice screeched, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. I couldn't help but smile a little at her assertiveness. Amberly looked a little taken aback, but regained her intimidating composure.

"And who might you be?" she asked.

"I'm Mary-Alice Brandon, Alice for short, official best friend of Isabella Maria Swan," she said through her teeth. Amberly chuckled and raised her eyebrows.

"And what do you think you can do about the situation?"

"I…I'll…" she stuttered. I've never in my eleven years of knowing Alice seen her at a loss for words. "I'll fight to the death!"

"No."

"But come on, you can't just take her away from her best friend!" Alice whined. She was going into baby mode. If there was one thing I knew about life, it was that baby mode never got you anywhere.

"Oh, I can. And I will," she said menacingly. I turned in Edward's arms and buried my face in his cold, hard chest.

"But…" Alice began.

"Alice. It's true. Amberly visited Charlie and he legally granted her guardian privileges. Bella will be leaving with Amberly tonight." I gasped at Carlisle's statement. How could he just let me leave? What was wrong with him? What did he know that I didn't.

"What?! So you're just going to let her leave?" Alice demanded. I felt someone grab my arm harshly.

"Come on, Isabella. We're leaving now. Go pack some things and we'll be off to Seattle," Amberly said triumphantly. I turned around to face her. I frowned as I saw the rest of the family staring at me with sad eyes. Emmett had his arm around Rosalie's shoulders, Jasper had a crying Alice in his arms, and Carlisle and Esme had their hands clasped together. I unwound my self from Edward's arms and flew up the stairs, partially surprised that I hadn't fallen on my face. I rushed into my room, and slammed the door behind me.

Through my tears, I threw my dark blue duffel bag on my bed. I threw whatever I saw into it, which seemed to come out to three bras, eight pairs of underwear, two pairs of pants, six shirts, seven pairs of socks, and a pack of hair elastics. It was only a month. One month. It wasn't that long. I'd be back with the Cullens soon enough, and I'd be able to live on my life. What could possibly go wrong in a month?

I heard a light knock on the door, and before I could answer, Edward let himself in. His usually liquid topaz eyes seemed to have hardened, and had turned a shiny brown color. He walked over to me slowly and wrapped my arms around my waist. He placed a soft kiss on the back of my neck. I laughed uneasily.

"I really don't have any idea why I'm so alright with this," I said quietly, I knew he'd hear.

"It's Jasper. He's keeping you calm," Edward whispered, his lips brushing my neck as he talked. He inhaled deeply.

"I'm going to miss your glorious scent," he whispered. I put my hands on his cold ones that still rested on my waist.

"It's only for a month," I said, my voice quivering. I couldn't lose it. Not yet. I couldn't cause Edward any more pain by seeing me cry.

"A month is much too long," he whispered. I bet that if vampires could cry, he'd be a wreck right now. His voice was sad and low, cracking every now and then, but still had its velvety smoothness.

"Isabella!" Amberly's shrill voice cried from downstairs. I tear trickled down my cheek, but I wiped it away quickly. I unwound myself from Edward and looked into his eyes. I almost turned away. His eyebrows were wrinkled, and his eyes were still the brownish-orangeish color, and they looked so filled with pain that if I didn't know better, I'd think he's been through another world war. I took his cold hand and led him downstairs to where the rest of the family stayed.

"Could you go any slower?" Amberly asked impatiently.

"Just…let me say my goodbyes," I said quietly. Amberly rolled her eyes and nodded. I reluctantly let go of Edward's hand and walked over to Rosalie. I wrapped my arms around her tall frame and squeezed as hard as I could, knowing that it wouldn't hurt her.

"I'll see ya in a month, Bells," she said sadly. I smiled sadly back at her and moved to Emmett, bracing myself for the bear hug that I knew was to come. He pressed his lips together and gathered me up, squeezing.

"Em…can't…breathe," I said in a breathy voice. He released me from his arms and set me on the floor. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"Be good for everyone, please. No funny business while I'm gone. I don't want to miss it," I whispered to him, making him smile.

I moved onto Jasper. I wrapped my arms around him in a casual hug, and he hugged me back lightly.

"Try to keep Edward from getting depressed," I told him, as he nodded, smiling a little. I threw my arms around the little pixie standing next him's neck, and she hugged me back tightly. I felt hot wetness on my neck, and I knew Alice was crying. I pulled back a little.

"Hey, it's only a month, Allie," I said, using her childhood nickname, "don't bug everyone too much with your hyperness, alright?" I asked. She smiled sadly and nodded. I removed myself from her and gave Carlisle an awkward hug, and moved to Esme. I hugged her tightly. I seemed like just yesterday when she returned, and now I had to leave her again.

"I love you, mommy," I whispered to her. She smiled and kissed my temple maternally.

That left me with Edward. I walked over to him slowly, trying to control the tears that were on the brink of falling.

I couldn't stand walking anymore, so I ran the rest of the way toward Edward and launched myself into his arms. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. I felt him tense up under me for a moment, as if testing his control, but he relaxed when he felt the tears spill out of my eyes and onto his neck. He kissed my hair repeatedly, whispering nothings into my ear, when I should be the one comforting him. I kissed his lips hard, trying to imprint the feeling of his lips moving against mine in my brain, for I wouldn't feel them again for another month.

I reluctantly set myself down on the floor and nodded at Edward, mouthing 'I love you' to him. He mouthed back. I turned to the doorway, taking one last look at my family, I walked out the door, only to be met with the unknown of the next month.

**I don't think the last paragraph made any sense but I REALLLLLY wanted to end it so I could get it out to you because I feel so bad about neglecting you angst. LOL. And anyway, I changed my pen name. Got that?**

_**I HAVE CHANGED MY PENNAME TO SOMETHIN' TO BELIEVE IN. **_**THE REASON IS ON MY PROFILE.**


	12. Chapter 12

**My Once (and hopefully Still) Faithful Readers,**

**I am so incredibly sorry for the long wait. I've been extremely busy with school and lacrosse (and for those of you who don't know, I'm very active in and play on three teams). I'll openly admit that FanFiction has not been one of my top priorities. The school year is coming to an end, and work is slowing down, so hopefully I'll be able to get more of this story out of my head. I feel that I have made a commitment to you guys, and if I were to go back on my commitment, I'd have a lot of angry Twilight fans after me. Again, I am so deeply sorry for the wait, and I'll try not to let it happen again.**

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Twenty nine days. Only twenty nine more days until I can leave this hell hole I call my aunt Amberly's. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but it was still awful. As it turned out, Amberly had a daughter, just a few months older than me, and she was definitely the epitome of 'bad girl.' She had dark black hair with white blond streaks, wore white makeup and black eyeliner, and had multiple piercings all over her face.

To say I was disgusted would be an understatement.

I hadn't really talked ot her much, she just stayed cooped up in her room all day blasting My Chemical Romance and Metallica from her room. Except for when we went to school, she gave me a ride in her beat up Ford Fiesta; a far cry from Edward's shiny silver Volvo.

Edward.

He'd popped in last night, just before I went to sleep, and found me sobbing on the floor right after I'd found out I'd have to go to school in Seattle the next day. He instantly comforted me, and I fell asleep in his arms. The last thing I remember him telling me was that he'd be back tomorrow night; tonight.

It was already eleven 'o clock, and he still hadn't showed. I knew he wasn't planning on coming late, because he knew I could barely make it up past ten; but I'd stayed up much later than usual, waiting for him to gracefully hop through my window. He never did.

Frustrated, I fished through my messenger bag for my phone. Finally finding it in my Calculus binder, I flipped it open and pressed speed dial one; Edward.

It rang twice before his smooth voice answered.

"Hello?" I had a feeling he already knew who it was, his voice was loving and a bit apologetic.

"Edward," I gasped, my eyes welling up. I didn't know why I was getting so emotional, maybe because my subconscious had thought something had happened to him.

"Yes, Bella, I'm here," he said.

"No, you're not here. That's the problem," I laughed wearily. I heard him sigh.

"Bella, love, there's been some complications. I won't be able to go over there tonight. Or any other night. We'll just have to wait to see each other until you return back to Forks," he said softly. A tear rolled down my face in disappointment.

"Complications? What kind of complications?" I asked, panicked.

"It's nothing urgent, just something in which Carlisle wishes me to stay home. Please understand, my Bella," he said, sounding pained. I nodded, even though he couldn't see me.

" Yes, Edward. I understand," I whispered, my tears flowing more freely, now.

"Now, Bella, please don't cry," Edward said. How could he tell I was crying? Stupid Edward and his stupid vampire-ness.

"I'm sorry, Edward. I just really miss you." Wow, I was pathetic. I'd only been gone one day and I'd already broke down about missing Edward. Imagine what another month would do to me…

"As I miss you, Bella. The month'll be over before you know it. Now go to sleep, love," he said, sounding rushed.

"I love you, Edward," I whispered, laying down, my head on the pillow.

"I love you too, Bella. Sleep well," he said before hanging up. I yawned, feeling much calmer than before, and set my phone on my nightstand. I didn't have two seconds before a soft knock on my door. Sobina, Amberly's daughter, poked her head through the doorway.

"Oh, Sobina. Come in if you want," I said, wiping the dried tears off my face. Sobina actually looked very different with all of her makeup washed off. Her long black hair looked soft and shiny, and her chocolate brown eyes, which were similar to mine, shined in the moonlight.

"Hey, Bella. Are you alright?" Sobina asked, sitting cautiously down on the edge of my bed.

Uh oh, she must've heard me crying. "Yeah, yeah. I'm alright. My, um, boyfriend just called," I said quietly, embarrassed to be talking about the subject.

"Oh, gosh. Is everything alright? Did he break up with you?" she asked, putting her hand over her heart. I looked at her for a moment. She noticed my staring and chuckled a little.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said. I shook my head, my lips curling up a bit. Maybe Sobina wasn't as disgusting as I thought.

"No, it's fine. Just don't tell Amberly. Last night he kind of um…snuck in through my window…and he said that he couldn't come back at all…it's not really anything that important," I said. It wasn't a total lie. He did sneak in last night; I just left out some important parts. (cough)vampire(cough).

"So I wasn't going insane!" she said, smiling. I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's just that, I heard you talking to someone late at night, and I thought I was going crazy. But I wasn't!" she exclaimed, smiling, her teeth a bright white color. I smiled little back at her.

"Yeah, it was just Edward," I said quietly.

"Wow, come to think of it, he must really love you to drive all the way up here from Forks. It's a long way," she observed. I bit my lip, trying to prevent myself from telling her that 'driving' wasn't exactly the right verb.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"My boyfriend would never do that. He'd be too worried that his bike would get damaged or something," she said, suddenly becoming extremely interested in the bedspread.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked, wanting to know more about this boy. It would get my mind off of Edward for a time.

"It's just that, Jacob lives so far away, and I hardly ever get to see him. He never even makes an effort to come up here and see me. He always says it's my responsibility to go down there and see him. It's just so frustrating," she said, biting down on her lip.

"Where does he live, exactly?" I asked curiously.

"He lives near you, I think. In La Push? The Reservation?" Oh. She must be talking about Jacob Black. My father and his father used to go fishing together all the time when Charlie and Renee were still together. That left Jacob and I all alone to do our own thing. He was always a really solitary kid. Never really wanted to do anything, not that I minded at all, but he just was never really social.

"Jacob Black?" I asked.

"Yes. You know him?"

"My, um, dad and his dad used to go fishing a lot. I had to hang out with him a lot a while ago," I told her. She nodded.

"He's a really sweet guy, it's just that he's so _lazy." _She told me. I nodded. I knew what she was talking about.

"How'd you meet him?" I asked.

"My best friend Embry introduced us last year. Embry moved down to La Push a couple years ago after his parents got divorced. He seemed really awesome at first, but then he just…lost his awesome-ness, you know?" she told me, playing with a strand on the bedspread. I nodded, even though I really didn't have any idea what she was talking about since I'd never had a boyfriend before Edward.

"Enough about me, tell me about…whats-his-face?" she said, a small smile playing at her lips. I smiled a little back at her.

"Edward," I said dreamily.

"Yeah, him."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, what's he like?" she seemed to be getting annoyed with my obtuseness.

"Hm. Edward. He's everything. He's the sweetest guy I know; smart, funny, amazing, just…" I rambled. My eyes glazing over and a goofy smile covering my face. She smiled warmly.

"Well, I can see that this could be challenging. Let's start with what he looks like. That should narrow it down," she said.

"Oh, not in the slightest. His hair is this strange bronzy color, like copper, and it's always a mess. Whenever he tries to fix it, it just doesn't cooperate," I giggled to myself, "so usually now he just doesn't even bother. And his eyes…" I trailed off, wondering if I should fudge the truth a little bit. She would surely find the fact that his eyes were a bright amber odd, wouldn't she?

"His eyes are a dazzling bright green; they're always sparkling. Whenever I look into them, I just melt, my legs turn to mush," I said, my goofy smile getting noticeably bigger.

"Aw, that is so sweet!" she gushed, clasping her hands together. "Does he have any siblings?" she wiggled her eyebrows. I smiled and shook my head at her. I decided to fudge a little more, so he wouldn't think that he was a total whackjob.

"Yes, but they're all taken. He's adopted. His dad, Carlisle, he's a doctor, and his mom, Esme, doesn't work. His brother is Emmett, and he's like a giant teddy bear, "she giggled, "and his other brother is Jasper and he's really smart."

"Well? Are they hot?" she asked, as if it was obvious that I should tell her.

"Well yeah! They all are! But like I said. _Taken._" I said pointing a finger at her, sending us into fits of giggles. The fun I had that night made me see that the next month with Sobina might not be all that bad.

* * *

**There it is! hope I didn't dissappoint!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Yet another kind of delayed update from yours truly!**

**THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING AND MORE FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME…**

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**Okay, I think I deserve not getting a lot of reviews for not updating in a while, so I'm not really that angry about the lack of reviews I got. Oh well. It'll get better…I hope. (hint, hint)**

**This is the chapter you've been waiting for! It skips ahead to the day Bella returns to Forks! And you'll find out what Edward was so busy with!**

I was practically bouncing in excitement as I packed my belongings into the Coach suitcase Edward had bought for me before I left. Today was the day I was returning to Forks. Today was the day I was leaving my horrid Aunt Amberly. Today was the day I'd get to see my Edward again.

But on a sadder note, today was the day I was leaving Sobina. We'd become fast friends since the night she'd heard me talking to Edward on the phone, and now I was reluctant to leave her.

"Aw, Bella, I'm gonna miss you!" she said, bringing in my bag of toiletries from the bathroom. I smiled sadly.

"I'll miss you too, Bina," I said, using the nickname for her I'd come up with. I stuffed the last piece of clothing in my suitcase, and zipped it tightly.

"Isabella, get down here, we're leaving!" Amberly called to me in her annoying, nasal voice. I smiled and grabbed my bags and made my way down the stairs, Sobina following me. I loaded my bags into the trunk of Sobina's Ford Fiesta; Amberly's car lost its muffler, so she refused to drive it. I slid in the backseat and began the hour and a half drive back to Forks.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

"We are now entering Forks!" Sobina cried happily from the driver's seat as she read the large wooden sign on the side of the road. I clapped my hands giddily, as I felt my cell phone buzz in my pocket. My smile grew as I read the caller ID.

"Edward!" I exclaimed happily into the phone.

"Someone seems a bit excited," he chuckled in his velvet tone. I giggled back.

"That is definitely an understatement," I told him. I was sure the smile in my voice was apparent.

"Well, the reason I called was to ask you where you were," he said. I heard Emmett talking in his booming voice in the background, followed by Rosalie yelling at him to shut up.

"Someone's a bit antsy, don't you think?" I asked, using his own words against him.

"That is definitely an understatement," he replied, happiness filling his voice.

"Anyway, we just got into Forks. We should be there in fifteen or twenty minutes," I told him.

"I don't know if I can wait that long," he said overdramatically. I rolled my eyes.

"I think you can. I'll see you in a few," I said, still smiling.

"Okay. I love you," he said, his voice becoming quiet. I knew he was trying to keep Emmett from hearing, but it would surely fail.

"Love you too," I said back before hanging up. I snapped my phone shut and returned it to its place in my pocket.

"Was that Edwaaaaaaard," Sobina asked in a mock baby voice. I giggled and nodded my head.

"Yeah, he was just wondering where we were," I told her.

"Who's Ed_wad_?" Amberly asked, pronouncing his name completely wrong.

"Ed_ward _is her boyfriend, Mother," Sobina said, obviously annoyed that her mother had spoiled the moment. The rest of the ride was quite, except for the occasional comment from Amberly about how the scenery was to green or too wet or too mossy.

Finally, we pulled into the long, familiar driveway that I came to know and love so much. I sat forward in my seat, as the bet up old car chugged slowly along. The ride down that driveway seemed like an eternity, until we pulled up to the treehouse like house that I'd missed so much in the last month. I opened the door before the car even stopped and jumped out, almost tripping, but catching my balance. The group of vampires that was my family stood outside, each with huge smiles on their faces. Emmett got to my first.

"Bells!" he said, scooping me up into a huge bear hug. I chuckled and hugged him back. "Great to have you back!" Rosalie approached me next.

'Bella, I've missed you," she said.

"I missed you too," I replied. "wow! You look great!' I complimented, knowing that it would make her even happier than she was now.

"Thanks. I got this new shampoo and it makes my hair so shiny!" she exclaimed. I smiled as she moved out of the way, only to reveal Jasper, who was smiling happily, probably from all of the joy that was filling the area at the moment.

"Good to have you back, Bella," he said, hugging me awkwardly. Before I could even move, I felt another pair of arms wrap around me and hug me gently. I turned around and saw Esme, my "mother" hugging me with a giant smile across her face.

"It's so great to have my other daughter back," she said, kissing my forehead. I smiled as she referred to Rosalie and me as her daughters.

"Edward hasn't stopped talking about your return all week," she said. My heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name. _Edward._ I looked around, and finally found the flash of bronze that I was looking for. I pulled away from Esme and leaping clumsily into his waiting arms. He hoisted me up and held me tightly to him, lifting my feet off the ground. He buried his face in my neck, and I felt him place small kisses there.

"Edward!" I giggled as he hit my sweet spot.

"Get a room, you two!" Emmett called. Edward looked up and glared at him for a split second, before returning his gaze to me.

"I missed you so much, my beautiful Bella," he whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"I missed you too,' I replied, smiling. My face suddenly turned red, as I remembered the group of people standing around us during our intimate moment. I pulled away from Edward and led him over to where my cousin stood.

"Edward, I want you to meet someone," I said. He nodded and followed until we reached the bottom of the rock stairway.

"Edward, this is my cousin, Sobina. Sobina, this is Edward," I introduced them. Edward nodded and smiled his dazzling smile in her direction.

"Wow, you were right. He is hot!" she whispered loudly to me. I blushed and looked away.

"Sobina, let's go! Momma has a date with Botox at three!" Amberly yelled from the passenger's seat of the Fiesta. Sobina rolled her eyes.

"I'll be right inside, Bella," Edward said. I knew he could tell that this was going to be an emotional moment for the two of us, so he left us alone. I turned to Sobina after Edward was gone.

"So."

"So."

"I'm gonna miss you so much, Bina," I told her as I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"I'll miss you too, Bells," she replied, hugging me equally tightly.

"Sobina Marie!" Amberly called. Sobina broke away and gave me one last wave before she made her way to the car. I turned and made my slowly back up the stairs and into the Cullen's', where I was met with the intoxicated aroma of vampire.

I huffed and collapsed onto the white couch next to Edward where he wrapped his arms around me. I snuggled into his chest and closed my eyes.

"Tired?" he asked. I felt his long fingers running gently through my hair.

"You have no idea," I replied, "but I suppose Alice will want to take me out to a homecoming dinner. Where is Alice, anyway?" I asked. I felt Edward tense up beside me. I opened my eyes and sat up.

"Edward? Where's Alice?" I asked. He pinched the bridge of his nose, which he only did when he was stressed.

"Bella, Alice isn't here," Edward told me. I raised my eyebrows.

"Well, where is she?" I asked.

"She's out in the mountains. Hunting with Carlisle."

**Ooooh, cliffy! Sorry, I just had to end it there. It was too tempting…LOL.**


	14. Chapter 14

**MY SICK-NASTY (YEAH, IT'S A WORD. LOOK IT UP) REVIEWERS WHO I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT…**

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**I'm on Spring Break now, so you can expect a couple more chapters. There's only a few more things that I need to happen, so this story will be coming to an end in five or six chapters. I know *tear*tear***

_"Bella, Alice isn't here," Edward told me. I raised my eyebrows._

_"Well, where is she?"_

_"She's in the mountains. Hunting with Carlisle."_

My heart stopped. _Hunting? _Alice was _hunting? _But if she was hunting, that would mean… But she couldn't be…

I gasped and put my hand over my heart. I sat bolt upright, my muscles tensing and becoming rigid. _Alice. Was. A. Vampire. _My face began to turn red with anger and My eyes welled up with tears.

"ALICE IS A VAMPIRE AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME?!" I exclaimed, standing up. Edward blinked a few times. He'd never seen me this angry. I don't think I've even seen me this angry.

"Bella, you have to understand…" he began, but I cut him off.

"Aren't you supposed to tell the other in the relationship everything?!" I screamed at him. Suddenly, I felt myself calm. Damn, Jasper.

"Bella, love, you need to understand that if I had told you earlier, you would've come right home from Amberly's, and we'd be in a lot of trouble with the law," he told me. I crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest and sat back down next to him. Maybe I was overreacting/

"How did it happen?" I asked quietly. Edward pressed his lips together and gathered me into his arms.

"It was Jasper," he began, "he's the newest non-human eater in the family, so it's always been a little more difficult for him anyway. He hadn't been hunting in a while and he was alone with Alice for a long period of time. He couldn't control himself, so he just bit her. It was completely accidental," he told me. I nodded. Poor Jasper. He must be feeling so guilty about his accident.

"When will she be back?" I asked quietly.

"Probably any minute. They left yesterday evening and they've been gone ever since. Carlisle took her hunting to prepare her for your return," Edward said, playing with my hair.

"Edward?" I asked tentatively, nervous about how he would answer the question I would ask.

"Hm?" he asked absently.

"When, um, I mean, will you ever…change me?" I said the last part quietly. I felt him tense up in his seat beside me. His eyes were hard and he stared straight ahead. He was silent for a couple minutes.

"Edward?" I asked, making sure he hadn't had a heart attack. **(A/N: haha…)**

"I don't know, Bella. Just drop it," he said sternly. I bit my lip and did as I was told, and sat back against the back of the sofa. I felt his body relax beside me, and calmed me down a bit. He rested his cheek on my head and sighed.

"I love you," he said quietly.

"I know," I said smiling. Suddenly, I heard the front door slam. My heart sped up as I saw Alice's figure along with Carlisle's in the doorway.

"So mountain lion is your favorite?"

"Yes, definitely," Alice's voice was very much different than before. It was much smoother and more like velvet. Her figure froze instantly, and I heard her sniff.

"What is that…" her eyes swept the room until they landed on me. Her beautiful face broke into a huge grin.

"BELLA!" she exclaimed. And at vampire speed, she had swept me up into the biggest hug I'd ever received from her, bordering on Emmett standards.

"Alice!" I exclaimed, hugging her nervously back. She pulled back and looked at me. Her once bright blue eyes were now a piercing red. Her features were sharper than before. Her once wild spiky hair, was now tamed into a stylish spiky style. Every blemish that once existed on her face had vanished, and her body seemed strong and stealthy.

"Wow, Al, you look amazing!" I told her. She smiled brightly.

"So do you! I never realized how really, really pretty you are! Your skin is perfect!" she exclaimed. I suspected she enjoyed examining me with her new and improved vampire eyes.

"That's what I keep saying," Edward said, coming up behind me. Alice giggled and suddenly got a blank look on her face. I turned and looked at Edward, and he motioned for me to turn my gaze back to Alice.

Her face returned to its normal state. She smiled brightly at me.

"Oh Bella! You're going to love our new school! It's big, and open, and…" she trailed off. I raised my eyebrows.

"Alice," Carlisle said sternly, entering the room with the rest of the family.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Carlisle and Esme exchanged glances.

"Okay, I think it's time for a family meeting of sorts," Carlisle said. We gathered in the living room.

"Okay good, because I'm completely in the dark," Emmett said, taking a seat next to Rose.

"Well, Bella, I know your probably completely confused right now, and I know you aren't the only one. What I wanted to start off with was that since you're legally an adult now, we were wondering if you'd like to become part of our 'family'," he used air quotes, "for all intents and purposes." It seemed like everyone in the room held their breath.

"YES!" I exclaimed, standing up. "YES! Of course I'll be part of your family!"

"For all intents and purposes!" Emmett added. I giggled.

"That's amazing, Bella. The next issue is what Alice brought up before. Since we have two newborn vampires with us now, one of them being a high school student, Esme and I have decided that it's time for us to relocate because we can't be sending Alice to school now, looking the way she does. We'll be moving to Mobile, Alabama tomorrow," he finished. I stared at the floor. That was a lot for my brain to process.

"And Mobile because…" Emmett said.

"Because it's another of the rainiest places in the country," Esme said.

"Well this is great then! Come on Bella, let's go pack your things!" Alice jumped up and grabbed me by the wrist a little too hard.

"Ow, Alice," I said, "still human."

She let go of my wrist. "Oh, right. Sorry." She grabbed my hand gently and pulled me up the stairs and into the guest room, which had more recently become my room.

"So Bella," Alice said, as she began rummaging through my things.

"So Alice," I said, sitting on the bed. I knew I wouldn't have to do anything; that Alice would just get it all done for me.

"Have you and Edward talked about your change yet?" she asked, getting straight to the point. I shrugged and leaned back.

"Not really. I'm not even positive it's going to happen. He got all anxious when I mentioned it to him," I told her. She turned around and shook her head at me, looking me in the eye.

"Bella, it's going to happen. I've seen it," she said. I raised my eyebrows.

"What do you mean, 'seen it?'" I asked. She smiled.

"I get visions. Like, seeing the future kind of visions. It's a special power like Edward and Jasper have. But my visions are only subjective, Carlisle thinks. I can only see the path that someone's while they're on it," she told me. So she saw me becoming a vampire. Me, a vampire.

"What's it like?" I asked.

"The change is very painful. You feel like you have fire running through your veins. Jasper said I screamed the whole time. It takes about three days; the pain is the worst at the beginning. Because you get used to it. But after I was changed, I felt a hell of a lot different. It's like you have so much space in your head, but nothing to fill it with. I was doing things at vampire speeds, and not realizing it, and I ended up breaking a lot of Esme's things. I got really clumsy, and I still am a little. But the grace that comes with what I am is amazing. It'll be really helpful to you," she laughed, a high pitched melodic laugh.

"So you've seen me…like you?" I asked. Alice nodded.

"Yes. Now I have a serious question for you," she knelt down in front of me, "do you want to become a vampire?"

My brain whirled. Did I? Was I ready for the pain? Could I handle the temptation of human blood? I knew the answer. It was now just a matter of getting Edward to agree with me.

"Yes."

**YAY! She wants to become a vampire! *does happy dance.* And just so you know, I'm not going to make Edward as stubborn as he was in the books, because that bothered me. Still stubborn though, so don't get any ideas. :P **


	15. Chapter 15

**Well, I suppose I posted the last chapter at the complete wrong time of the day; around noon, time. I was wondering why I wasn't getting any e-mails from FanFiction, until I realized that Not everyone is on Spring Break right now, and probably a lot of people are in school. So that would be the reason for my lack of reviews and –emails from FanFiction. My best friend says that I'm mentally a blonde. (No offence blondes, my best friend is blonde and I love her to death).**

**MY ONLY TWO REVIEWERS?!**

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**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEAS PLEASE REVIEW! I'LL REPLY, I PROMISE!**

Carlisle and Esme had made the decision for us to run to Alabama because it wouldn't be safe for two newborn vampires to be sitting in an enclosed airplane around a bunch of humans. Edward had just woken me up from deep and peaceful sleep, and we were getting ready for our trip down to Mobile.

"So Bella, you will be with Edward for the entire ride. We'll be stopping occasionally to get you some food or for you to use the bathroom. Our cars are being shipped to Montgomery, where we'll pick them up and drive into town. That way it won't look like we're emerging from the woods in the middle of town. The forecast is set to be overcast throughout the Midwest, but we still must stay out of sight," Carlisle explained as we waited outside the Cullen home for Alice and Rosalie. I stood cuddled up to Edward's cool body, trying to find warmth. We had picked a rather chilly morning for us to leave, and it was about 40 degrees F.

"Okay, we're ready," Alice said, emerging from the front door. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a tight fitting black shirt, a sky blue jacket, and patent leather boots. Rosalie followed close behind, and was wearing the same black skinnies and black shirt, but she was wearing a silver metallic motorcycle jacket with patent leather pumps.

"Are you going to be able to run in those?" Esme asked the girls, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, sure. It's not like we're gonna break our ankles or something," Rosalie said, nonchalantly. It made me giggle how they were getting so dressed up for running. Although I suppose they wopuldn't sweat, which makes it better. I, on the other hand had opted for the more comfortable look—jeans, a long sleeved Henley, a pair of Vans, and my favorite blue jacket with all the pockets.

"Alright, then let's get going," Carlisle said, "remember to stay out of sight," he reminded. Edward hoisted me onto his back and we were off. I buried my head in the collar of his gray pea-coat and tightened my arms around his shoulders. He must've sensed my distress, because I felt him grip my thighs tighter. I was never fond of running with vampires. It always made me a bit queasy.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

We ran for about four hours, before my stomach started to growl. I didn't want to be much of a bother and slow down the trip, but I really was hungry. Edward must've heard my stomach, because he signaled the others to slow down so we could find a gas station or something for me to grab a bite. I could tell we weren't car from the road, I could hear tires screeching and horns honking not too far away.

We emerged subtly from the trees, making sure no humans were to see us, and made our way up to a Shell a little ways up the road. The others opted to stay outside while Edward and I entered the station.

"It smells repulsive in here," he whispered in my ear, referring to the strong odor of cigarette smoke.

"Yeah, I can only imagine how bad it smells for you," I said, breathing through my mouth. I browsed the shelves and finally picked out blueberry muffin, a bottle of apple juice, and a pack of gum to chew on and maybe distract my hungry stomach later on. I put the items on the counter and pulled out my wallet.

"No, love, let me pay," he said, handing the girl behind the counter a ten dollar bill. The girl winked at him, trying o be flirtatious despite the multiple piercings and tattoos she had. I felt Edward shudder beside me, and tried to stifle my giggle. Edward rolled his eyes and led me out of the store, plastic bag in hand.

"What was she thinking?" I asked with a smile when we exited the store.

"It was too vile for me to even repeat," he said, shuddering again. I ate my muffin and drank my juice quickly, eager to continue the trip.

"Where are we, anyway?" I asked as we made our way back to the edge of the forest.

"We are right on the border between Idaho and Wyoming," Edward told me, hoisting me back on his back.

"Hey Edward," Emmett said, "say Idaho."

"Idaho."

"No you're not! You're the 107 year old virgin! Get it? I-da-hoe!" Emmett burst out laughing, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Rosalie.

"It's only funny when you use it on Mike Newton! Any other time is just stupid," she informed him, taking off into the woods.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

"Where are we now?" I asked.

"Right outside of Lincoln, Nebraska."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

"Where are we?"

"Oklahoma."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

"Are we almost there?" I was almost falling asleep.

"We're a little ways into Mississippi," Edward said, "only a little farther."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

I woke up to my body being jostled around roughly. The sky was dark, and it seemed that I was in someone's car. Piano music was playing softly in the background as I opened my eyes slowly. Edward's Volvo. We were in Alabama. My new home.

"You're awake," Edward observed from the driver's seat. It had been his wild driving that had woken me up.

"Mm, glad you noticed," I said with a yawn.

"You fell asleep on my back just as we got into Montgomery. We had to wait for about an hour because our cars hadn't arrived yet," he told me.

"Did I say anything?" I asked. I've been known to say some pretty embarrassing things in my sleep.

"Nothing new. Just my name and that you love me," he said nonchalantly. I blushed and looked down.

"I have to warn you, though. Emmett is going to have a fun time teasing you in the when we arrive at the house," he told me, reaching over and taking my hand with his cold one.

"Why?"

"Because you were talking while we were waiting for our cars. He was sitting right next to me," he said, smiling a little. My face turned even redder and I groaned with frustration.

"Don't worry. I thought it was rather cute," he said, kissing my knuckles. I smiled back at him and leaned back in the comfortable seat.

"Don't get too comfortable, we're about there," he said, turning into a long driveway. Thankfully, the new house seemed to be in the woods again. Finally, we pulled up to the new house.

It was large and constructed of stone, with a four car garage and back porch overlooking a beautiful lake. A beautiful gazebo sat slightly behind the house, along with a vegetable garden to the right.

"Wow, Edward. This is beautiful!" I exclaimed, climbing out of the care. I seemed to have gotten a lot of my energy back. The rest of the family pulled in behind us and equally quickly got out of their cars.

"Wow!" Alice exclaimed, running up next to me.

"This was one of the first houses we lived in," Carlisle said, putting his arm around Esme's shoulders.

"Yes. That was when it was just the two of us," Edward mused. I smiled at him as he seemed to be recalling old memories of the house.

"Let's go inside!" Alice exclaimed. She grabbed wrist gently and pulled me up the stairs to the front door. She whipped out a key from her pocket, and inserted into the doorknob. We entered the house and turned on the light switch.

"Wow! This house is beautiful!" she exclaimed. It was. The door entered into a short hallway with coat hooks on either side, and umbrella holder to the left of the door. It has a high cathedral style ceiling. The living room was next, and it was breathtaking. There was a fireplace in the middle of the room, with painting hanging above the mantles on either side. The hardwood floor was blanketed with a white shag rug, and a beige couch sat in the corner, with a cherry colored hardwood coffee table in front of it.

The next room was the kitchen, and even though it wouldn't get very much use, it was breathtaking. It had a modern feel to it, with White cabinets and walls and black granite countertops. There was small TV that sat in the corner near the island that was surrounded by bar stools.

There was also a formal dining area, and a furnished basement downstairs.

"Do you like it, love?" Edward asked, coming up behind me and making me jump.

"Yes. I love it," I said, relaxing into his arms.

"Would you like to see your room?" he asked me. I nodded and he lead me up two flights of stairs to the third floor. He opened a white door, flicked on a light switch, and stepped inside. The room was beautiful, to say the least. There was a fireplace directly across from the door, and skylights showed the twinkling stars. A bed sat in the corner, with a royal blue bedspread and pillows. The matching curtains were slightly open to reveal huge windows, one with a view of the lake behind us. But my favorite part was the sliding door near the bed, that led out to our own private balcony overlooking the lake.

I gasped and slid open the door, letting the cool Alabama air surround me. I stepped outside and leaned on the railing. I felt Edward come up behind me and press his body to mine.

"This is amazing," I said quietly, closing my eyes and leaning my head onto the crook of his neck. He kissed my temple.

"I thought you'd like it," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I love it," I corrected. I felt him smile against my cheek.

"I love you," he said, burying his face in my neck. I sighed contentedly. This moment was absolutely perfect. Nothing could spoil it. Well, except for one thing maybe.

"Edward?" I asked tentatively. He sense my tone and lifted his head, but didn't remove his arms from around me.

"Yes, love?"

"Can I ask you something? And promise you won't get angry," I said quietly. He shook his head.

"Of course I won't get angry with you, love. Now what is it?" he asked, resting his chin on my head.

"Will you ever change me?" I held my breath, waiting for his reaction. I felt him clanch his jaw.

"I don't know, Bella," he said finally.

"But I want to be like you Edward. I do. I want to live forever with you," I told him, turning in his arms.

"I s that really what you want Bella? You want to become a monster? Be doomed to eternal damnation?" he asked. I could see the pain in his eyes. I could also see that he truly hated what he was.

"I don't care about that, Edward. Don't you see?! All I want is to be with you forever! I dream about becoming like you!" I exclaimed. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"_Is that what you dream about? Becoming a monster?" _he asked me, turning away. I followed, and made him face me.

"_No, I dream about being with you. Forever," _I told him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him to me.

**There it is! The italics at the end are from the book. AND they are my absolute favorite lines in the whole series.**


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